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PICTURESQUE 
ARIZONA. 



Being the Result of Travels and Observations in Arizona 
During the Fall and Winter of 1877. 



By E. CONKLIN, 

Representative of the National Associated Press and Artist and Correspondent of 
Frank Leslie's Publications. 



ILLUSTRATED BY THE 

Continent Stereoscopic Company, of New York, 

PUBLISHERS, 

No. 60 Nassau Street. 



$ew ¥orh : 
the mining record printing establishment, 

No. 61 BROADWAY 

1878. 



CIS" 

P3 



Cf^DU " 



jf.ntered according to act of Congress, in the year 1878, 

By E. Conklin, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C. 



ELECTROTYPED BY 

CRUM & RINGLER, 

NEW YORK. 



1 






TO THE 



^mm$ imfl £m\tm$mtn oi ray ffiountnj, 

WHOM I HAVE LEAKNED TO HOLD IN HIGH ESTEEM, 

THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
By the Author. 



P R E F A C E 



My book is a, preface to Arizona. 

Let those who would know my "Preface" read, my 
book. 

The Author here acknowledges valuable aid and cur- 
tisies in gaining information for this book to the follow- 
ing named persons : — 

Ex. Gov. A. P. K. Safford of Arizona ; Col. J. D. 
Graham, of the Toltee Syndicate of mines, San Fran- 
cisco ; Col. R. J. Ilinton, of the Evening Post, San Fran- 
cisco, California ; Col. Wni G. Boyle and Dr. II. R. 
Allen, of the Aztec Mining Company ; Lieut. Geo. M. 
Wheeler of United States Corps of Engineers; Major 
J. W. Powell, of the United States Geological and Geo 
graphical Surveys ; George Tyng, Editor of the Yuma 
Sentinel. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 

Return to San Francisco— The allurements of the "Baldwin"— The Invita 
tion from the Aztec Mining Company— The Preparations— Whiskey 
Looking-glasses, and Starched Shirts— Interviewed at the Depot— The 
Scene from Oakland page 17 

CHAPTER II. 

Off for Arizona— Scenes on the way— The Livermore Valley— Yosemite— 
The Great Tehachapl Pass— The Orange Districts— Across the Desert to 
Fort Yuma . page 25 

CHAPTER III. 

My Arrival at Yuma— Description of the Town— Its Former History— The 
Coming Sanitarium— Dr. Loryea's Opinion— The Railroad Enterprise- 
Its Vicissitudes— A Watchful Guardian of the Night— Lo! the poor 
Indian page 38 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Arrival of the Aztec Mining Company— The Denizens of Yuma— We 
break our fast— Tho Excitement over our mules— The " Yosemite " 
and "Thorough-bred ! " page 50 

CHAPTER V. 

Arizona, the Future Country of the Student, and the Husbandman— The 
Fertile Valleys of the Plain— The Unique Barrenness of the Desert- 
Sunday morning at Ehrenberg— The Mojave Indians— The Mountain 
Panorama Scenes page 70 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Gila City— A Frontier Hotel— Taking the Census— Celestial Phenomena- 
Meditation— A Setting Sun in Arizona ,.^ 84 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Mirage— A City not Built with Hands— Onward from Gila— The Sagu- 
ara— The Sturdy Sentinel of the Plain— The Mesquite— The Palo-verde 
—A Desert rife with Growth 101 



CHAPTER VIII. 

A Desert which is not all Desert— From Dos Palms to Prescott— Sensations 
on the Desert — A Southern Moon — Sand Storms— A City of the Desert — 
Breathing Air— Silver Threads and Golden Nuggets 116 



CHAPTER IX. 

Mining Capital in Arizona — The " McCracken "— " The Hannibal "— " The 
Stonewall Jackson "—The Great Prospectors, McMillen and Flournoy— 
"Dead Broke" — Cinnabar, Copper, and Tin — Arizona! why so long 
lain mute ? 130 



CHAPTER X. 

Narratives of early Arizona— Bloody Deeds and the Apaches— Eskimenzen 
—Cochise— Witchcraft— Habits of life— Reform— Who is to blame ?.. .149 



CHAPTER XI. 

Ehrenberg— A lonely " Village of the Plain "—Painful Thoughts— Corona- 
tion Peak— The Goddess of the Valley— No Endowment Policy— Interest, 
Contrast, and Beauty— To the Land of Hemp, Cotton and Rice 168 



CHAPTER XII. 

Antelope Peak— A Night's Companion— " Lone Peaks "—A Gold Story— 
Oatmans Flat— Freight Trains of the Desert— Pedros Pintardos 181 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Salt River Valley— Lost on a Desert—" Happy Camp "—A Dollar Drink 
—Water, twenty-five cents— The Bed in the Manger — Mule, versus Man 
—Important Considerations— Montezuma or Washington, Which ?. . .207 



CONTENTS. 11 



CHAPTER XIV. 



The Indian— The Pimo— The Maricopa— The Papago — The Zuni— The 
Moqui— The Apache— Their Diversity 223 



CHAPTER XV. 

The Zuni and Moqui— The Model American Indian— Their Villages— Mode 
of Life— Morals— Rebecca at the Well— Games and Pastimes— A Sacred 
Rite— Shrewdness— Hospitality 239 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Moqui and Zuni, continued— Their Dress— Manufactures— Govern- 
ment — The Seven Cities of Cibola— The Ark, again— A present from 
President Lincoln— That Persistent Mission— Major Powell's Descrip- 
tion 256 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The Antiquity of these Indians — Arizona's Vicissitudes — Conquered at last 
— America's Dark Age:? — A Costly Bonfire— Prescott— Humboldt— Ban- 
croft— To tho Land of Ancient Lore by Rail ! 275 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Great Casa Grande— Impressions— A Palace, Castle, or What— A Bil- 
lowy Sea of Green— The Puzzle of Puzzles 281 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Florence— Its Uniqueness— Anxiety for Col. Graham— False Alarm— Mod- 
ern Ruins— Tho Old Mission Buildings— San Xavler Del Bac 303 



CHAPTER XX. 

The Tolling of a Contrite Bell The Knell of Parting Power— Alone with 
the Spirits ol Centuries— Tubac— The Mission Ruins of Saint Joseph — 
Tumaoacorl— The S-uata Cruz Valley 302 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Leaving Tubac— The Nineveh of America— Silver lined and Verdure clad— 
The Dawn of Arizona— Bold Mountain Scenery— Tho Santa Ritas— 
Their Mines 308 



12 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The El Picachos— The Land of Massacres- -Cochise — Mountain Cavern— A 
Talking Mines— A Dream of "Waterfalls, Valleys, Canyons, and Caves. 

314 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

The Meeting of the Mountains— Arizona's Natural Wonders— The Micro- 
cosm of the World — The Colorado— Its Canyons— Its Plateaus— Its Ca- 
prices—A Home for the Repeater— The Indian Guides of the Colorado— 
—A River that tells no Tales 322 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Remarkable Ruins in Southern Arizona— The Founders of the Aztec and 
Toltec Syndicates of mines — The Grandest Pecuniary Success on 
Record— The "Bollas De Plata" (Balls of Silver)— Col. J. D. Graham. 

330 



CHAPTER XXV. 

From Camp Apache, Northeast— A Land full of interest— A Great Agricul- 
tural and Mineral Belt Combined 350 



CHATTER XXVI. 

My Departure from Tucson — Admonitions — The Jehus cf the Plain — Ben 
Hill— Mind and Matter— A Tale of Love and Woe— All for Gold— The 
Highwayman 355 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Spirit of the Desert— The Author Robbed— Penniless— The Meeting of 
McMillen and Josiah Fournoy— The Proverbial Sympathy of the 
Pioneer 366 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGK. 

" The Baldwin" of San Francisco Frontispiece 

Red Rock Pass on the Colorado River above Yuma— The Chimney 

Peaks in the distance 14 

A Scene in the Orange Groves of E. J. Baldwin, Esq 33 

Indians taking their Sun-bath at Yuma 43 

An Indian Belle of the Yuma Indians 49 

Indian Group 53 

Getting ready for a prospecting tour 60 

An Indian in to wn G4 

An Indian watching the approach of Emigrants on the plains of Arizona . 72 

A Mojave Indian Chief at Ehrenberg 76 

Mojave Indians at Ehrenberg taking their Sunday walk 80 

Map of the ancient province of Tusayan, Arizona 83 

An Indian Warrior 87 

Preecott 91 

Tucson 97 

Valley of Santa Cruz, (From Hinton'a Hand-Book of Arizona) 103 

The Proposed Hotel and Plaza at Calabasas Valley of Santa Cruz Ill 

A Miner's vicissitudes In Arizona 136 

Charles McMillen and Josiah Flournoy 140 

Ready for a Scalp 152 

An Apache Chief 160 

An Apache Squaw and Papoose 101 

Tho City of Ehrenberg— Looking up tho Colorado Rivpr— Indians at play 1C 9 

A Mojave Indian and boy at Ehrenberg 178 

A View of the Colorado at Yuma 177 

" Lone Peaks," on the road from Ehrenberg to Prescott 163 

A Midnight Camp of tho Apaches in the Pelonchillo Mountains, Arizona 188 



14 ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE. 

Rocky Canyons and Mesa lands of Arizona 192 

The Continent Stereoscopic Company's Artist "viewing " in Arizona. . . 200 

The Painted Rocks (Pedros Pintardos) on the plains of Arizona 201 

Scene in the Salt River Valley 207 

The Region of the Thousand Wells, on a high rocky Mesa 209 

Just in from the desert— getting ready for a good square meal 213 

Papago Indian Women going to carry hay 222 

A Maricopa Indian Girl picking berries 225 

Pimo Indians at home 229 

A Squad of Indians at a game of cards 233 

An Unwelcome Visitor 238 

Mi-shong-i-ni-vi— a village of the Moquis in North-eastern Arizona 241 

Interior of an Oraibi house in the Moqui Villages 249 

The Free Indian Girls, An-ti-naints, Pu-tu-su and Wi-chuts 253 

The Terraced houses of Oraibi 257 

Praying for Rain— a religious observance of the Moquis 261 

An Indian Hunter 268 

. A Scout of the Navajo's in northeastern Arizona 274 

A Navajo Indian Boy 277 

An Ancient War dance of the Apaches 279 

Ruins of the Great Casa Grande in Southern Arizona 283 

Ruins near the Great Casa Grande 287 

The Mission of San Xavier del-Bac, located 9 miles south of Tucson 297 

Old Mission Ruins of Tumacacori 303 

A Street Scene of the Adobe Spanish Residences 305 

Sand stone Formations, found in the Ravines of the Santa Rita Moun- 
tains 312 

Butte in the upper Colorado Canon— Colorado River, Arizona 325 

Marble Canon of the Colorado River 329 

The Great Canon of. the Colorado River, Arizona 333 

The " Toltec " mining camp in the Santa Rita Mountains 345 

Stage Coach Robbery ^ 368 




mm 



CHAPTER I. 

RETURN TO SAN FRANCISCO— THE ALLUREMENTS OF THE " BALD- 
WIN " — THE INVITATION FROM THE AZTEC MINING COMPANY 
—THE PREPARATIONS— WHISKEY, LOOKING-GLASSES AND 
STARCHED SHIRTS— INTERVIEWED AT THE DEPOT— THE 
SCENE FROM OAKLAND. 

HAYING completed my labors as correspondent of 
the trans-continental tour, organized by Mr. Frank 
Leslie in the Spring of 77, in the interests of his 
many publications, I made known to him my long 
intended purpose of writing and illustrating Arizona — 
the most interesting of all our frontier territories. 
Long had this been a cherished desire of mine, and 
long had I, in my many trips to the coast kept an 
eagle eye on this obscure, but wonderful region. As 
jealously had I picked up from time to time all scraps 
and hear-sa}'s of this territory, as the ravens within its 
borders now pick up the morsels scattered by travelers 



1 G PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

and mining parties. And now raven-like, I carry 
these scraps to all the world as a faithful messenger of 
the future great mineral State of America. 

I returned to San Francisco and in August made 
preparations for an extended tour through Arizona. 
No fitter time had ever presented itself for a represen- 
tation, digestion and general unraveling of Arizona's 
vast resources in all channels of human industries, than 
the completion of the Southern Pacific Eailroad to the 
Colorado Eiver, which was expected to take place the 
following month. A more propitious or favorably 
auspicious event will never probably be known in the 
history of that territory — except perhaps the purchase 
of the southern portion of it. To go to Arizona here- 
tofore and find what you wanted — where lo go, or how 
to go, reminded one of that emblematic hay stack and 
its needle. A double combination of events have 
transpired this fall which will be an era in the history 
of Arizona — the completion of the Southern Pacific 
Railroad on its way across the territory, which takes 
you to this hay stack, and Col. R J. Hinton's Hand 
Book and Guide, which enables the traveler to unrav- 
el that hay stack and find the needle when he is once 
there ; and the object of this book is to show you the 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 19 

merits of your particular needle when found, whether 
you be a miner in search of mines, a farmer in search 
of fertile valleys, or a tourist or scientist in search 
of the beauties or wonders of nature. 

Again in San Francisco, and the very recollections 
of the luxuries of its famous Baldwin Hotel seem to 
allure us to the spot and already stimulate us to new 
ambition. The soothing quiet of this hotel is a mar- 
vel even in the nucleus of the most brilliant hotel 
achievements in the world. Never was there a com- 
bination of such rare and rich material brought togeth- 
er in such perfect and complete harmony. This hotel 
is the most attractive institution under that name that 
ever decked American soil. We feel free to say it. 
It is an allurement to all travelers and tourists who 
have once seen it. 

While in San Francisco preparing for a new depar- 
ture, I received an invitation from Col. J. D. Graham, 
Secretary of the Aztec Mining Company of Arizona, to 
accompany him and his party on an extended tour 
through southern Arizona, to the mines of the compa- 
ny. I appreciated this, knowing that to the indomitable 
pluck and energy of the members of this company, 
were due some of the greatest mining enterprises and 



20 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

achievements in the territory ; and I accepted, knowing 
that their mines lie in the Santa Rita Mountains, one 
of the richest mining sections in the State, and their 
course through some of the richest valleys, thereby 
affording me ample facilities for learning of what I 
would know. Favors, like crosses, thought I, never 
come singly. So I arranged to meet the party subse- 
quently at Yuma. 

I left San Francisco amid all the vicissitudes conse- 
quent upon going on a big trip. I felt this spirit of 
bigness — of vastness, forcing itself upon me ; not so 
much, that the trip itself was to be a long one, but of 
the interest and importance that the completion of the 
Southern Pacific Railroad to Arizona was ushering 
into existence. Although I had plenty of time, as the 
moment approached for me to depart, I found I had 
fallen a victim to that treacherous "last moment" 
which had, with its wonted subtleness crept unawares 
upon me, and like a thief in the night, found me 
asleep. The express called for my trunk ; I tried to 
squeeze two seconds into one, forgetting the lesson in 
applied philosophy learned when j^oung, that no two 
things could occupy the same space at the same time. 
Being intuitively reminded of this by some automatic 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 21 

faculty of the mind — reason I had none just then — I 
reverted to material things and tried to cram two shirts 
into the place one should occupy, which caused me to 
break a bottle of whiskey that I was taking along for 

the Indians, or medicinal purposes. I was sorry 

for this, because I had intended if I kept my health 
— and whiskey — in tact, to finally bestow it upon some 
of my red brothers, the Arizona Indians. I am a friend 
to the Indians. 

I rushed frantically about for something that would 
work on the capillary system, to wipe up the muss. 
I seized a towel from the bureau, and in turning 
quickly around, broke a glass which cost me ten dol- 
lars and fifty cents. 

Becoming exaspeiated, and with a spirit indefatiga- 
ble to conquer, I chucked — this is the best word just 
here — everything into my trunk promiscuously, re- 
solving to remodel things on the train, by bribing the 
baggage-master to let me have access to it there. The 
express man got my trunk and rushed off. I was too 
late for the " Bus," which is one of those emblemati- 
cally punctual institutions, especially when you hap- 
pen to be a few minutes behind. I took a horse- 
car. At the railroad office I called for my ticket for 



22 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

Fort Yuma. I laid down my fifty dollars, and was to 
have received eight dollars in change, but I never knew, 
from that day to this whether I ever picked up that eight 
dollars or not; for at the utterance of the words " Fort 
Yuma," I was besieged by a dozen or more individ- 
uals wanting to know if I was actually going to Fort 
Yuma, and putting into a score of other questions all 
the qualifications of importance. They were enthu- 
siastic emigrants. They all wanted to hear from Fort 
Yuma ; and no less than half a dozen persons wanted 
me to write them each a private letter giving them 
a full description of the great mines of Arizona and 
New Mexico ; and how I thought turnips would grow 
there ; whether the Indians were as troublesome as 
they had been in the Black Hills ; whether cows could 
be milked three times a day, and whether jackasses 
could be sold for mules down there. These requests 
were all made with the familiarity of two strangers 
meeting in a foreign land. I promised all to give them 
the desired information. I justified my wilful false- 
hood by the satisfaction it afforded them for the mo- 
ment; and I justified my neglect to subsequently 
comply with their requests from the fact that not one 
of them offered me stamps for postage. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA 23 

The cause of a greater portion of all my vicissitudes 
I trace back to the allurement I was under at the 
"Baldwin." We all know what an effect pleasing 
surroundings will have, to the neglect of sterner duties, 
causing the mind to swerve until it forgets itself and 
becomes dilatory, and reason itself becomes tossed and 
cannot at once find its equilibrium. Oh ! this allure- 
ment ! 01i ! the infatuation that makes mockery of 
self control. This fascination that causes one to miss 
trains, miss everything in life while under its influence. 

And yet they are the very allurements that we are 
most willing lo be charmed by. But we are really 
justified in them in exemplification of our nature, as 
explained in Romans 7th and 15th : "Forwhatl woukh 
that do I not ; but what I hate, lhat do I.'' 

In twenty minutes we had spanned the bay of San 
Francisco to Oakland, where all passengers for South- 
ern California and Arizona lake the trains of the Cen- 
tral Pacific Railroad. Oakland has been so long com- 
pared to the Brooklyn of New York in its proximity 
to San Francisco, that it has become typical of it. The 
concourse of people swarming like bees and increasing 
fiom day to day as they aie, to almost incapacitated 
proportions, makes good the similitude. 



24 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

The train stood waiting at the Oakland wharf hiss- 
ing of! its virulent steam, anxious for a start. The 
evening was inexpressibly charming, under the mellow 
light of an Occident setting sun. I took my seat in the 
sleeping car, and scanning the bay of San Francisco, 
beheld the glorious scene which has become the em- 
blem of the city ; the pride of its people ; and the joy 
of the traveler and tourist — a setting sun at the Grolden 
Gate ! And I must here waive the old adage, not to 
give advice until one had been " thrice asked for it" 
and proffer it to all travelers, not to miss this phan- 
tomed "halo. 



CHAPTER II. 

OFF FOR ARIZONA— SCENES ON THE WAY— THE LlVERMORE VAL- 
LEY — YOSEMITE — THE GREAT TEHACHAPI PASS — THE OR- 
ANGE DISTRICTS— ACROSS THE DESERT TO FORT YUMA. 

BY the time ray spirits had been mellowed down 
into their accustomed equilibrium, the time had 
come to depart. " Klick-cr-de-klick ; chit-er-de-chat: 
chit-er-de-chat; kliek-er-de-klick," rattled our ladened 
train over the wonderful Meiggs wharf which ex 
tended two and a quarter miles out across the bay 
Klick-er-de-kliek, chit-er-de-chat, rolled our car wheels 
like the prattle of a lot of merry school girls let loose 
and had the same effect of merriment upon its listen 
ers. Then the old smoke-stack bellowed forth 
" Hush/ — Hush ! — Hush ! — ush ! — ush ! — ush ! — ush 
sh, sh, sh, sh, sh," as if warning his charge against 
useless gossip, and admonishing them not to make 
such a noise. 



26 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

Thus we sped, twenty miles away, across the charm- 
ing Livermore valley — one of the chosen spots of Cali- 
fornia's richest soils. 

If one's spirits are in a raffled state as mine had 
been, "these sights and these sounds "would prove a 
soothing balm. 

As we approached the end of this valley, which nar- 
rowed down to about the width of a good sized farm, 
we felt that one of the Eldorados of our trip had been 
seen. All the diversity for the richest rural effects 
and of husbandly, were here combined. "We had seen 
the sweet maiden daughter of the hardy husbandman, 
standing in the threshold of his humble cottage ad- 
miring with unwitting zeal, the fruits of her sire's 
sturdy arm and sweaty brow. One charming picture 
particularly attracted my notice. A maiden of some 
fourteen Summers, with her golden hair flowing over 
her shoulders, and a neat, clean pin-a-fore clasping 
jealously her form, stood on one of these thresholds, 
breathing the balmy atmosphere from the mountains 
wafted over the waving corn and blooming wheat, 
from which it received its perfume. As the train 
passed, this little creature pulled from a pocket in her 
apron her handkerchief, and waved it. This was the 



I'lCJTKESQUE ARIZONA. 27 

climax of this valley scene. Perhaps the handker- 
chief had something to do with it. "We all know how 
far this token of welcome, as a flag of truce, will put 
new life into the soul. Behind the little hamlet, rose 
a spur of the mountains, one peak of which seemed 
the maiden's special guardian. On wc sped through 
the Canyon : witnessed the shades of evening trans- 
formed into Luna's night, and arrived at Merced, the 
place of departure for the Yosemite valley, just be- 
fore midnight. Many left our train here. The name 
of Yosemite has not ceased to allure, nor its sights to 
charm. I was a little allured myself, but as the train 
moved on, I contented myself by reciting the lines 
contributed to fair Tissaack's abode while with the 
Leslie party, when we were there in the Spring. We 
had, on that occasion just reached the summit of the 
Sierras from which we were to descend into the valley. 



Yosemite ! How wells the heart, 

When o'er the Sierras' summit height, 

The sense of sight, to the soul imparts 

Fair nature's gift, this grand, this gorgeous sight. 

Behold ! we near the crested edge ; 

Our every breath held by a spell. 
We fain would make a solemn pledge, 

To all the world this vision tell. 



2S PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

Down ! down ! the mountain's side we prance, 
Each steed, sure-footed, marks his pace. 

To the right — to the left — yes, all around, 

Bold rocks command, and waters run their race. 

To the left, "El Capitan " rears its ponderous head, 

Carved out by some gigantic power ! 
To the right, " Fort Rocks " commands the valley front, 

Beneath lies Tissaack's chosen bower. 

Down in the very depths of this colossal vale 
Hemmed in by sybil's choicest charms, 

Our soul would break from its fettered chains 
And with its praise, the mortal man disarm. 

With hair unfurled and ribbon tossed, 
Across the " Bridal " stream we bound, 

And with hats in hand we give one shout ! 
For our Mecca we have found. 

In the night the train enters the Tehachapi Pass — 
enters, as it were the last remnants of chaos; enters one 
of nature's grandest caprices; as treacherous as it is 
wonderful, as interesting as it is beautiful, and as 
capricious as it is grand. The Tehachapi Pass is one 
of the greatest pieces of railroad engineering in the 
world. It includes, perhaps, the wonderful features 
of all other railroads combined. 

In this Pass, comprising adistance of nineteen miles, 
you have your high tressels, chasms, horse shoes, Cape 
Horns, tunnels, &c, &c. In fact these things in them- 
selves constitute this entire section. The train will 



FJCTU RESCUE ARIZONA, 29 

jump from mountain dome to pinnacle; from peak to 
peak, with as much agility as a man on the trapeze. 
In the last mile of this section the train passes through 
five tunnels. By the curves and the angles, the cross- 
ing of ravines, and the rounding of pinnacles; with 
high towering mountains on the one side, and precip- 
itous gorges on the other ; all theories of trigonometry 
and the calculus are demonstrated, and practically too. 
The locomotive fairly plays tag with the tail end of the 
train in the wildest commotion. You are held spell- 
bound. In its fury Mr. Smokestack again belches 
forth its Hush, Hush, Hush, as if warning you to hold 
your breath and not venture a whisper until we are 
over safely. Standing on some of the elevations over 
which the train passes, in this wild and elevated re- 
gion, a most imposing view of the surrounding coun- 
try may be had. It suggests that the whole of God's 
footstool might be comprehended, so vast is the ex- 
tent. The eye peers over hill, dale, mountain peaks 
and ranges, until it is lost in its own vision, and seems 
to comprehend infinity. How grand the sensation ! 
How your soul grasps — pants, for just a something 
more. From Yosemite to Tehachapi your mind re- 
verts. We have often heard how the West in its broad 



30 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

expanse, captures the emigrant and traveler in mind 
and spirit, and weans him from his eastern home. We 
have all tried to define what this influence is; I think 
it is just such scenes as this. As the mind, in compre- 
hending and retaining its mental observations, and as 
the field becomes broader and he clings to those obser- 
vations with a zeal proportionate to its vastness, so 
does the soul expand with what it sees, in proportion 
to its own vastness. How often this condition forces 
itself upon the traveler in Arizona. And perhaps this 
is the reason one finds so many whole-souled men in 
this interesting Territory. Many of them were perhaps 
whole-souled before they went there, but we are rather 
inclined to think the most of them have become so from 
the very soul-spirit of all nature in this beacon land. 
As the mind is wont to grasp after what lies beyond 
its present sphere, so does the emigrant and the trav- 
eler jealously long for the blessing, the freedom, the 
liberty, the wide expanse, that these scenes suggest to 
his nature. 

The traveler takes a last, lingering look at the re- 
gion of the Tehachapi Pass, this being the last moun- 
tainous scenery until he reaches Central Arizona. 
This region is commonly known as the famous 



TICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 31 

"Loop,'' from the fact that in circling itself, it crosses 
its own track to reach a high elevation of mountain. 

At daylight you strike a portion of the great Mo- 
jave Desert, the word "desert" striking dimly on 
your ear, and feeding the mind with imaginary evils 
always associated with that name. This gradually 
dies away, however, with the remarkable and interest- 
ing characteristics peculiar to the so-called desert, 
gleaned later from our facetious friends — the pioneers 
and frontiersmen of our countr , and from, the natives. 
A chapter on the deserts of our country will be found 
in its proper place. 

Further south four hundred and seventy miles from 
San Francisco, the far famed orange region is reached. 
The conglomerate city oi Los Angeles tells 3^011 of the 
adventurous days of the chivalrous Fremont. Eisdit 
miles below Los Angeles you pass through the fertile 
San Gabriel Valley, where the greatest orange groves 
of the State thrive in luxurious splendor Here are 
located the great orange groves of E. J. Baldwin, Esq. 
All kinds of semi-tropical fruits are raised on this 
ranch, which covers sixteen thousand acres. 

One of the original aims of Mr. Baldwin was to sup- 
ply his own culinary wants of the hotel. This self 



32 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

sustaining principle enables him, in adding to the 
luxuries of his hotel, to do so at a less cost than any 
other method, or in other words, to give a greater 
amount of luxuries for the same price. This system 
of Mr. Baldwin's explains the query made by the 
many patrons of his house, " How can he afford to 
run this extravagance at the regular hotel rate? " 

To get an invitation from Mr. Baldwin to visit his 
ranch in Southern California, and to actually visit lt f 
is a treat, and one can get an extended and — ex- 
alted did we say — at least a flattering idea of a bonan- 
za farm of Southern California. On this ranch or farm 
can be found all products indigenous to tho coast 
Mr. Baldwin has, also, other ranches in different parts 
of the State. The orange blossoms and groves throw 
their fragrance broadcast through the air and with 
their emblematic influences, charm the senses. 

An orange tree in blossom is a gorgeous sight. 
"Gorgeous sight," did I say? Well! it depends. 
To some, each blossom is transformed into a little 
cupid plumed and armed, and holding high carnival 
in the tree top : while to many these are, by some 
misordained condition of nature, transformed into lit- 
tle devils. Owing to the present jogging condition 




^"mmmm 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 35 

of the world, this orange growing section will not loose 
its interest for some time to come. We are told of 
both young and old having fainted at the sight and 
perfume of this marital emblem. At least, we can say 
by our own experience, a drive from Los Angeles to 
the beach at Santa Monica through the orange groves, 
is a most condign place for a young man, who wants 
to have a lady faint in his arms. 

One hundred miles south of Los Angeles you cross 
the great Colorado desert. Although a desert, this 
vast tract of county is full of interest. But of these 
interests in desert traveling we will speak in connec- 
tion with our journey through Arizona. 

On this desert, shorn, if not of its name, at least of 
its terrors, by the annihilating iron horse, and the civ- 
ilizing palace car, one gets the first intimation of the 
peculiar scenery of Arizona Looking from the cat- 
window to the east, a distant range of mountains, 
different from anything } r ou have, perhaps, ever seen, 
attracts you. 

" Domes and half domes, 
Pinnacles and peaks; " 

truncated cones, pyramids and spires ; castles in the 
air (with solid foundations, which none but a strong 



36 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

miner's will can move) with bases of hidden gold and 
silver, salute you. This is the scene that contrasts so 
forcibly with your desert. And this variety is what 
makes the desert so interesting in itself. We all know 
the charm of variety — of change. In the direction 
you are now looking lies the famous " Needles " of 
the great Colorado Kiver. In the distance are the 
famous "Chimney Peaks ; " further down is the " Cas- 
tle Dome ; " and by imagination's sweet charm, or 
in recollection's powerful cast, you see the capricious, 
the whimsical, the wonderful Colorado Kiver. 

This is the view that greets the traveler's eye and 
cheers his spirit as he nears Arizona, and for three 
hours before reaching her initial point, Yuma. Let 
it be in the grey of the morning, and the peculiar hazy 
blue, like a sea vapor that hems the different mounts 
and ranges in, reminds you of the Blue Mountains of 
Jamaica in the West Indies. Let it be in the eve- 
ning's golden hue of an Arizona sunset, and the rug- 
ged outline fringed with gold and crimson, and the 
whole fretting on the azure blue of the firmament, is 
a scene to charm the soul and puzzle the senses. 

From here I started to make a two month's tour 
through the northern part of the Territory, the results 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 37 

of which will be embodied throughout my book in 
connection with my southern trip ; and from which 
trip I returned to Yuma on the first day of December 
to await the arrival of the Aztec party. 



CHAPTER III. 

MY ARRIVAL AT YUMA — DESCRIPTION OP THE TOWN — ITS FOR- 
MER HIISTORY — THE COMING S ANITARIUM— DR . LORYEA'S 
OPINION — THE RAILROAD ENTERPRISE— ITS VICISSITUDES— 
A WATCHFUL GUARDIAN OF THE NIGHT — LO ! THE POOR 
INDIAN. 

HERE I am at Yuma! and while waiting for the 
arrival of the Aztec party, I will contemplate 
some, the land I am going to roam. 

That part of the Territory of Arizona over which 
our travels were now to extend, was acquired by the 
Gadsden purchase from Mexico in 1853 ; and, save 
the regret that the instrument of purchase did not 
record a section of country as far south as Guaymas, 
which would have given us a port on the Gulf of 
California — a "Golden Gate" to Arizona — the pur- 
chase was a most condign and satisfactory one. At 
the time of the purchase, Mr. Gadsden did not re- 
ceive himself, this compliment from the people, but 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 39 

rather abuse and ridicule; an abuse evidently given 
from ignorance. This suggests how often chastise- 
ment is given in ignorance. How long — Oh ! how 
long, will the human race — that noble race — that man 
— in his vast s}^stem of philosophy, education and sci- 
ence — that being with a reputed psychological exis- 
tence, be elevated to know how, when, and where to 
chide. Then indeed will our God-soul be elevated 
toward its rightful sphere. Then will judges be well 
deserving the potent " Honorable," and, the preachers 
claim "Reverend" to their names. Then will parents 
make men and women of their offspring, and be truly 
proud of their issue. As it is, where is the man who 
would dare originality or individuality to the lull 
extent of what his experience, education and good- 
will would seem to urge, for fear of reprimand from 
an unphilosophic world ? There are a few such ; they 
die persecuted — perhaps a martyred death for the 
benefit of an enriched and selfish world ; while that 
world lives the very embodiment and verification of 
the sheep element ; following where they have been 
led, and grazing on the products of a good and fer- 
tile soil. Poor Arizona ! How near you came to 
being lost to us. But Ho! for Arizona! is our senti- 



40 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

ment now. Although in many places in our country, 
within certain limits are combined so great a variety 
of climate and topography that one may in certain 
sections, experience all the diversity of traveling 
abroad; especially is this applicable to the southern 
portion of the Pacific coast. In one short day you 
come from the snows of the Sierra to the tropic of the 
desert, where in July the thermometer will range 
about an average of 120° Fahr. in the shade, and 170° 
in the sun. One peculiar feature of Arizona's climate 
might be mentioned here. 

Although the thermometer may often range much 
higher than in some other known place, the heat is 
felt very much less. An incident of mine will amply 
illustrate the fact. In '73 I went to Southern Cali- 
fornia for the first time; I had some friends whom I 
visited and who were farmers. Having once lived on 
a farm, the inclination presented itself to me to see 
how much of my rural tuition I had, in my now rov- 
ing propensities, retained. I made a request to go into 
the hay field the next day, and help pitch hay a just 
to see how it felt" as I said, "after a fifteen years 
rest." The next day I was told by my friend in an 
insinuative sort of way that it was going to be a very 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 41 

hot day he thought, and he did not think an eastern 
man like me could stand it to work in the sun. Now 
this was the very worst thing he could have said to 
me if he had not wanted me to go, for I always pride 
myself on my physical strength and powers of endur- 
ance. I was bound to go. I worked until noon, and 
pitched hay all the time too. The thermometer, I 
learned when we went to the house to dinner, was 
118° Fahr. I could not believe it at first. I 
had suffered some from the heat — in fact con- 
siderable. But it was rather a burning, outward 
heat as from the rays of the sun ; and not an 
inward bodily heat as if suffocating. And although 
I perspired freely, the big drops rolling down my 
cheeks and brow, I did not suffer as much, nor feel 
as fatigued, as when walking in New York under a 
thermometer of 95 degrees in the month of July or 
August. 

This is the nature of the heat in these locations. 
The rarity and dryness of the atmosphere, it is well 
known, is the chief cause for this favorable condition, 
and especially has Arizona these qualifications. When 
a person hears another speak of the thermometer 
being 110° or 115° in Southern California or Arizona, 



42 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

lie must not imngine that those "poor mortals " there 
are suffering what he would be in New York or Balti- 
more under a thermometer of 90°. Yuma itself, in 
conjunction with the Colorado River which runs along 
side, from the cause jusi alluded to, is Nature's Russian 
or Turkish bath. The very Indians take their sun 
bath here every dny. For centuries this people have 
been reclining at certain times of day on their heated 
sand-mounds, at a high temperature, and checking the 
heat by a plunge in the cooling waters of the Colorado. 
For centuries they have been working wondrous cures 
from the aid of these medical properties of the soil 
and atmosphere. A private letter written me con- 
cerning this location as a natural Sanitarium, by Dr. 
A. M. Loryea, M. D. of the celebrated Hammam baths 
of San Francisco, comprehends some of the principal 

merits. Dr. Loryea says : 

« * * * * My experiences in Arizona were very sat- 
isfactory. The heat there, though high, is endura- 
ble in consequence of the dryness — hence its adapta- 
bility as a place of residence to those afflicted with 
Renal affections, especially Bright's Disease of the 
Kidneys. The skin acting vicariously for the lungs, 
exhaling carbonic acid and absorbing oxygen, Con- 




INDIANS TAKING THEIR SUN-BATH AT YUMA. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 45 

sumptives would there find relief. One does not take 
cold and my patients there in the last stages of renal 
and lung affections slept out of doors all and every 
night with perfect freedom. Malaria does not exist 
in Yuma, so that we have every advantage obtainable 
for invalids and hence many term it 'Nature's Turk- 
ish Bath, ' or the great Sanitarium of America ; and 
patients who may visit these need not 'abandon hope ' 
but have every assurance if not being cured of their 
" many thousand ills that flesh is heir to " but at least 
of being ameliorated and measurably benefitted. Of 
course all class of affections, such as Rheumatism, Sci- 
atica and Neuralgia are resolved by the heats of Yuma;' 
On the Colorado River, ninety miles from its mouth, 
and on its east bank, is located the old city of Yuma, 
in Arizona. On the opposite shore, or California side, 
on a high elevation, is situated Fort Yuma. This 
location which has heretofore lain mute with a history 
that perhaps rarely extended beyond its own domain, 
except by an occasional exploring party, or an inhab- 
itant who had fortunately made his escape from the 
ravages of Indians or Mexican desperadoes, has 
now gained for itself a place in the history of the 
Pacific Coast. 



40 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

On the 29th of September— of the year, 1877 — 
this point became the present terminus of the South- 
ern Pacific Eailroad of California. Since that time 
the two great signals that govern the destinies of 
armies, have been called into requisition by the event. 
" Halt ! " and " Forward March ! " have been given 
with all the pomp and pomposity of military tactics. 
The occasion for these conditions seems to have been 
some misunderstanding between the military and 
civil authorities ; but this being; now settled, and the 
road fairly into Arizona, it is simply our pleasure to 
notice the likely results and interesting incidents 
from the fact. 

The likely results are that a complete, through, 
southern, trans-continental route will steal an exist- 
ence upon ns, as unawares, as did the first and origi- 
nal road across the Continent in '69. When we 
realize the vast interest, to all the different sciences, 
the two Territories of Arizona and New Mexico are 
constantly opening up to the geologist as a mining 
district; and to the historian, in the different races 
of human beings suggested by the many and unique 
ruins constantly being discovered, we hail the event. 
The legendary spirit connected with many of these 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 47 

old arid pre-historic ruins, is interesting beyond de- 
. gree ; and the subject so engrossing that we dare not 
attempt a description in this present limited space. 

The bridge over the Colorado looms in plain sight 
to the inhabitants of both sides of the river, a lasting 
monument of the indomitable pluck adextremum, of 
the American people. 

The completion of this bridge was associated with 
some pleasing incidents on the night of September 
29th. From the misunderstanding between civil and 
military authorities before alluded to, orders were 
issued to the military headquarters at Fort Yuma, not 
to allow any of the Southern Pacific's rolling stock 
whatever, to cross the Colorado River, and to stop the 
construction of the bridge. Sentinels were placed 
at the bridge to keep vigilance. Nobly did our 
country's servant perform his duty until his 

bed time came. Then all was ''quiet on the : ' 

Colorado. Our sentinel slackened his martial tread, 
and stooped to catch the slightest sound; and in the 
stillness of the night, the yelp of a stealthy coyote, or 
the screech of a hawk was his only reward, except 
perhaps, the snore of the bridge-engineers, which in 
this case must have been a little unnatural, as it was 



48 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

feigned. Thinking that "all was well," our sentinel 
thought to steal a little sleep. No sooner had lie suc- 
cumbed to his own alluring thoughts, than the same 
surreptitious spirit to "steal" was evinced by the 
sturdy engineers. In a moment, they were " to arms " 
or rather to their tools ; stole a march, and in the 
space of three short hours the last quarter of a mile 
of track was laid, including a section of one of the 
most substantial bridges on the coast. Well did they 
steal their march. And well, do we think, our sen- 
tinel must have slept. The right of way to this Com- 
pany for crossing the Colorado ended on the following 
day, the 30th of September. On the 29th at eleven 
o'clock at night, they ran the first steam cars over this 
bridge from California into Arizona. Since then, it 
has been authentically decided that they had the 
right to do so, and the work of extending the road on 
through Arizona is about to commence with the same 
indomitable pluck characterizing the road to its pres- 
ent terminus. 

Distance often gives an erroneous interpretation, as 
well as an enchantment. We think this is somewhat 
the case with Yuma. Yuma is the new name for 
Arizona City. It is not an Indian village ; though 




AN INDIAN BELLE OF THE YUMA INDIANS. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA 51 

an Indian village exists contiguous to it, and a full 
representation of the old Yuma tribes constitute an 
equal half of its daily population. Blanketed and 
half -nude Indians associate as intimately with the 
whites (what few there are here) as do the Mexicans 
themselves. 

The town itself, is strictly of Mexican origin, and 
savors of all the looseness and primitiveness charac- 
teristic of the smaller, out-of-the-way towns in the 
.Republic of Mexico. 

Standing on the promontory where the fort is lo- 
cated on the California side, and looking over, and at 
an angle of perhaps 20°, one sees a mass of one story 
buildings, built of adobe, and roofed with mud, the 
floors of which were originally the ground, but 
which have been, by the more thrifty foreigners 
of all classes recently arrived, replaced by board 
ones. Some are whitewashed, and present a cleanly 
appearance; while others are the embodiment of the 
filth of the greaser. One or two genuine Span- 
ish houses built in the quadrangular form with the 
garden plot in the center, and two stories high with 
a veranda, where flower-stands bedecked with flowers, 
cheer this otherwise barren place. The town of Yuma 



52 riCTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

was first founded about 1855, and was then called 
Colorado City. In 1858 it contained about half a 
dozen bouses, according to Ives' report on government 
explorations. The name was then changed to Arizona 
City, and afterwards to Yuma City, in honor of the 
government fort across the river. It now numbers 
about two thousand people of all classes, including 
Indians. 

The hour of eight, every morning now, when the 
train comes in, is an interesting one in Yuma. There 
is then congregated, with eager eyes, Indians, Chinese, 
Americans; Jew, Gentile, and Pagan. In fact, most 
every nation and condition of men on the earth, one 
might be inclined to say, is represented. The same 
conglomeration, characteristic of all embryo places of 
the West, is here seen. It seems to us that now would 
be a good time for the stud}^ of the Psychologist in 
Yuma, as it is interesting to the traveler. 

At night the Indian huts and camp fires may be 
seen glimmering around the city. As one approaches 
ihese and sees, crouched together, a handful of half- 
clothed, beggarly Indians, a feeling of sadness steals 
over him. They will sit with stoic stillness and 
stare at vou with an awe-stricken exoression 




INDIAN <n:oi:i\ 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 55 

as if they knew that their hour for final extermina- 
tion was at hand. The fires perhaps, mav be fading 
into dying embers. Upon this you will look and 
muse. For how typical, in its fading, is it of the very 
race to which it has given warmth and life. You 
count one, two, three, four, five remaining embers in 
the heap. There are just five Indians in the group. 
As quickly as those embers, must these Indians fade 
away under our civilization ; and we wonder, that if, 
in our civilized state, were we truly so, this would be 
the case. 



CHAPTEE IV. 



THE ARRIVAL OF THE AZTEC MINING COMPANY— THE DENIZENS 
OF YUMA— WE BREAK OUR FAST— THE EXCITEMENT OVER 
OUR MULES— THE "YOSEMITE AND THOROUGH-BRED ! " 

ON the 5th of December, 1877, Col. Wm. G. Boyle, 
President, and Col. J. D. Graham, Secretary of the 
Aztec Mining Company, arrived at Yuma with the 
following members of the company, and well known 
capitalists of the East: Alexander Wilden, Esq., of 
Philadelphia, Dr. H. II. Allen, of Indianapolis, founder 
of the great National Surgical Institute of Indian- 
apolis, Indiana ; J. K. Wallace and F. Steele of Phil- 
adelphia ; Col. C. W. Tozerof San Francisco; and Col. 
R. II. Hinton, of the Evening Post, San Francisco, who 
was just completing his superb Hand Book to Ari- 
zona. In addition to these were several subordinates, 
such as our cook, two drivers and your humble ser- 
vant. Yes! and there was another arrival not a little 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 57 

important to the completion of the compare, in the 
shape of eight large stalwart Kentucky mules. If the 
reader had been in Yuma, Arizona, at the time of the 
arrival of these mules he would appreciate the value 
of this Inst assertion ; for to the population of Yuma 
this last acquisition was the all interesting one. In 
these eight mules was more interest to the majority 
of the inhabitants of this hamlet community, than 
any event since the arrival of the railroad in Septem- 
ber. I venture to say that eight-tenths of the popu- 
lation would have given more for one of these mules 
than all the other things connected with our outfit, 
including the members themselves.- I must explain 
here that this eight-tenths portion of the population 
is composed of Indians and Mexicans ; and also that 
a genuine animal of this kind had never yet trod the 
virgin soil of Arizonn, and considering the weakness 
of the Indian, and the avarice of the Mexican to pos- 
sess a fair specimen of the asinine creation, you will 
not only comprehend the situation with them, but will 
appreciate our situation in keeping a fatherly eye at 
night on those particular mules. The excitement on 
the arrival of our party was as rife as on the occasion of 
the entrance of the first locomotive into the town. I 



58 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

saw them both. Steaming across t e Colorado, on the 
new bridge, which was yet a great object of interest to 
the Indian and the crude Mexican, the people rushed 
to the depot to see us. Indians hung to the sections 
of the bridge, climbed on the cars, peeped in the win- 
dows, crouched themselves on the steps and platforms 
of the cars, and reminded one of monkeys in a " happy 
family " cage of some museum, surreptitiously at work 
under the ostentation of play, to find some fleeting 
opportunity to take advantage of, or play some trick 
upon their unsuspecting associates. And not only does 
this subtle, stoic race, with his hanging breech-cloth 
following after him in the wind, as he leaps from tie 
to brace on the bridge, or hangs from his body as he 
clings to a beam, in the performance of some favorite 
gymnastic feat, look like the monkey; but as stealthily 
will he play any cunning, or antics upon you at the 
least opportunity. They will steal a blanket or a 
horse with as much agility and shrewdness as a mon- 
key will steal your hat. 

Next to the Indian, the Mexican drew upon our 
notice. With his large sombrero, and his serappa 
thrown over his shoulder a la Italian, you have with- 
in jrou all the sentiment of visiting and being in your 



riCTURESQUE ARIZONA. 61 

sister Republic — Mexico ; or of some hamlet in Spain. 
By the way this class eyed our mules, we concluded 
they were his particular attention. And by the way 
we eyed our mules at night, you would have come to 
the conclusion that he was our particular attention 
also. 

On the morning of the fifth of December then, the 
long anticipated trip to the Santa Ritas commenced. 
I had been on many an expedition: had traversed 
many a mountain range; and had traveled many a so- 
called desert of our West; but somehow this occasion 
had inspired me with a new zeal to analyze the coun- 
try and its resources. I was up at day-break, as I 
used to be on the memorable Fourth of July in my 
boyhood. The first object that presented itself to me 
on coming from my room was the indefatigable Col. 
Graham kneeling on a roil of blankets forcing a strap 
to its last hole, and puffing in the attempt. So intent 
was he upon his important purpose to get eacli parcel 
down to its lowest notch, that he hardly noticed me at 
first, and when he did, it was with a careless "Oh! 
Have you just got up ?" I tell you, this was heaping 
coals of fire on my head ; for I had prided mj^self on 
being a lark in all enterprises of travel where punc- 



62 riCTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

tuahty or vigilance was a necessary requisite. The 
next instant, turning hastily around, I stumbled against 
Col. Boyle who, guarding the interests and pleasure 
of his company, was also " up and doing ; " but whether 
with a "heart for any fate," or a heart for & particular 
fate is a question that Arizona herself will some day 
answer in the progress her mining developments will 
have made ; and it may be said here, that through the 
earnest efforts of these two gentlemen, it seems to me 
the mining interest at least, of Arizona will always 
be identified. 

Having brushed around and supplied ourselves, (in 
addition to perhaps the most complete and extensive 
commissary outfit that ever left Yuma) with such 
things as extra ammunition, some cheap whiskey for 
the Indians, some large brimmed hats a la sombrero 
style, and some few gew-gaws and what-nots. Then, 
at nine A.M. came the welcome summons to a sumptu- 
ous repast gotten up by our host Mr. Levy. A huge 
triangle rattled forth its notes of beefsteak and onions, 
eggs, frejoles and flap-jacks, with a host of other 
things of greater or less importance. Major Lord 
from the Fort on the opposite side of the river, and our 
facetious friend, Greorge Tyng of the Yuma Sentinel 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. G5 

were invited guests for the occasion. They were "on 
time;" and it is useless to say, in this climate, with 
appetites as keen and bracing as the atmosphere itself. 
At ten o'clock we were ready for a start. A con- 
glomeration of individuals which suggested that this 
place would one day be the leading cosmopolitan city 
of the Union, had gathered around us with curious 
stare. There were half naked Indians: Heathen 
Chinese; primitive Mexicans; Turk, Swede, Italian, 
German, Jew, Gentile and Pagan ; and a host of those 
who were nothing at all — who embodied all the 
characteristics of that class of people, so thoroughly 
identified with Americo-Mexican towns, who have 
nothing in view, have left nothing behind ; who have 
always lived as they are living now — "waiting for 
something to turn up," or until they are turned down, 
and harbored safely in their last resting place, where 
neither mortal cares nor scriptural scares, would ever 
trouble them more. Such was the scene that bid us 
an adieu from Yuma, and which was only a fore- 
runner of scores of similar ones that awaited us 
throughout our journey. The Indians, on this occa- 
sion however, had a double interest. They were the 
Yumas, which are to-day, perhaps, one of the most 



66 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

primitive of our nomadic tribes. Even further into 
the interior of the State, civilized decorum seems to 
be more in vogue. The men here were in the most 
part nude ; having nothing on but a handkerchief, 
known as the breech -cloth, tied about the loins. 
While the women paid the same scant observance to 
the ancient doctrine of the fig-leaf, by a little skirt 
made of straw or calico, reaching half way down to 
their knees from their waists. The scene was a 
unique one to those of our party unaccustomed to the 
primitive American race. But with faculties sensitive 
to the force of education one soon becomes a careless 
observer, and passes these scenes as one of the many 
conditions it takes to make up a world. Such scenes 
as these, however, are becoming more rare every day, 
and Arizona is the last section of our country which 
offers to the curious sight-seer the nearest approach 
to the crude American Indian. Arizona in many in- 
terests in fact is, what Col. Graham once said to me 
in regard to her mining resources, "It is the Ameri- 
can's last chance" He said this with a twinkle in his 
eye that put a heavy weight to his meaning, which I 
proved to myself after, and which will be shown in 
the course of our travels. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 61 

Many scenes which are alike suggestive and inter- 
esting will have shortly passed away under the rapid 
stride of the railroad, of the miner's pick, and the far- 
mer's plow and reaper. 

One little incident before parting, suggestive of the 
prospector and his life. Two young men who had 
evidently got Arizona on the brain, bad, for their 
good, were preparing for a prospecting trip through 
the Territory. They were contracting for a jack (com- 
monly known in this country as a buro) to be used 
as a pack animal, to carry superfluous luggage. A 
Spaniard had him for sale. He was drawn up before 
the mart. He was " an unexceptional ass," the owner 
said, and finally parted with him for sixteen pesos. 
One of the young men handed the Spaniard the six- 
teen dollars. As the Spaniard turned to leave, I 
never saw a more affectionate parting between man 
and beast in my life. The animal was about the size 
of a very small Shetland pony, or that of a large, New 
Foundland dog. His ears would flap back and lie on 
hia neck like a pair of oars. At his docile look to- 
ward his parting owner, as the latter patted him on the 
back an affectionate farewell, theie was a heart-soften- 
ing in all observers. The poor jack turned to follow 



68 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

his former master, and found he was tied. His eyes rolled 
like two orbs on pivots, and reminded me of the agony 
of a bull whose head luid been drawn down to the 
floor for the slayer's axe. He finally got his head 
over the rope, and watched his master as far as he 
could and then he bowed his head in grief. He did 
not rant and toss, and his sorrow seemed all the more 
intense for its quiet submission. ! this quiet, unos- 
tentatious grief! How it penetrates ! How it forces 
out the human sympathies. Here on the frontier bor- 
der of the desert, on the verge of the wild man's coun- 
try ; away from friends and home, this scene was 
strongly in keeping with its surroundings, and had its 
effect upon us. It reminded me of the parting of 
many a son or a husband, on an uncertain pilgrimage 
for foitune in our great West. Many a scalding tear 
have I seen trickle down a wife's cheek as a husband 
full of suppressed grief, would, like an Enocli Arden, 
muster some word of cheer for that wife — some to 
suffer a like fate, and some to give as great a cheer in 
a subsequent return, as they had caused sorrow in 
parting. 

Finally a crack of the whip, and the promiscuous 
crowd around us signified that we were posi- 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA 69 

tivelj off. Oar coaches consisted of the two well- 
known style of wagons " Thorough -Bred " and " Yo- 
semite." Eacli coach was mounted with an American 
flag waving its stars and stripes to the breeze. Amid 
a clatter of voices in the Mexican, Chiuese, Indian- 
negro, and a mixing of tongues that suggested to me a 
modern Babel, and a shout of good cheer we rattled off 
over the sand bottom of the grand old Colorado River, 
for the Santa Rita Mountains some four hundred miles 
away. The undertaking was a ponderous one. The 
eight mules had been purchased in, and brought all 
the way from Kentucky to San Francisco, and from 



thence the mules, wagon?, ammunition and stores had 
been transported by the Southern Pacific Railroad to 
Yuma, a distance of seven hundred miles more. 



CHAPTER V. 

ARIZONA, THE FUTURE COUNTRY OP THE STUDENT AND THE 
HUSBANDMAN — THE FERTILE VALLEYS OF THE PLAIN — 
THE UNIQUE BARRENESS OF THE DESERT — SUNDAY MORN- 
ING AT EHRENBERG— THE MOJAVE INDIANS— THE MOUN- 
TAIN PANORAMA SCENES 

TO the ethnologist and the archeologist generally 
no other beaten route offers more inducements 
than our course to the Santa Rita Mountains; and 
certainly it has some of the most beautiful valleys and 
mountain scenery in the territory, except the route 
from Ehrenberg, on the Colorado River, to Prescott, 
the capital, in the Sierra Prieta Mountains. 

About two hundred miles from the river, going 
directly east, you enter and pass through the land of 
the Pimo Indian, two hundred and fifty miles brings 
you to the old pre-historic ruins of the Casa Grande 
at the time of the building of which, the mind of man, 
as the legal investigator would say, "runs decidedly 




y Vi 'i I '.■ , ; ': itgRiir 1 .' 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 73 

to the contrary" ; which simply means that man don't 
know anything about it. Three hundred and ten 
miles brings you to the metropolis of Tucson (from 
Too-son). Three hundred and sixty miles brings you 
to the ruined city of Tubac, and to the old mission 
ruins of Tumacacori, and about four hundred miles to 
the famous Santa Rita Mountains and their wonderful 
silver mines. Many of the famous Pedros Pintados 
(painted rocks), such as are seen at the Moqui villages 
in the north eastern part of the Territory, are to be 
found on tliis route. These things we will describe 
in turn. 

As the traveler leaves the Colorado River going 
east, lie passes over the great Colorado basin. Some 
misapprehensions, I find, exists in the minds of new 
comers to Arizona, concerning this basin. They con- 
flict it with what is generally known as the " Colorado 
Desert.*' This is a mistake. In times gone by when 
the vast section of Southern California and the eastern 
part of Arizona was considered as one great and un- 
known desert, the whole was indefinitely called the 
" Colorado Desert." But it is not so now under 
the more modern surveys and divisions. The "Colo- 
rado Desert" lies wholly in California. The term 



74 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

11 Colorado Desert " is a proper name given in honor 
of the great Colorado River, it is true, which courses 
very near to it The term Colorado not being used 
here as either a descriptive adjective nor an adverb of 
place ; but simply a proper name given to it in honor 
of the great and curious river which flows so near. 
Indeed the Colorado has enough grand and curious 
features of its own without claiming any from the 
great desert which lies beyond it to the west. Then 
we will dispense with the idea at the present of the 
Colorado basin being a desert. It is true, that in its 
general appearance it resembles that of a desert, but 
personal observation and experiences on my part, 
with proofs that have been brought to my notice, 
shows that these basins of the rivers of Arizona are 
very fertile and prolific. Like the famous Walla 
Walla wheat districts in Washington Territory, which 
a few years ago would not bring fifty cents to the 
acre, but now are producing seventy bushels of wheat 
to the acre and creating a clamor among those seek- 
ing wheat-growing locations, so will be — yes are — 
these basins of Arizona attracting the attention of the 
enterprising and frugal husbandman. Deserts are not 
always great Saharas, consisting of a large tract of level 




A MOJAVE INDIAN CHIEF AT EHKENBERG. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 7 7 

sandy plains stretching their way across untold acres 
and sections of land. In Arizona this is especially 
illustrated. Those sections of Arizona truly desert, 
are rocky stony mesas of which there are several in 
the State ; but neither of the extent nor numbers 
alloted to them. Some of the most potent of these 
are to be found in the northwestern part of the Terri- 
tory in Mojave County. However, as we have inti- 
mated the region of the Colorado basin extending 
for a distance of from fifty to sevent}' five miles east 
of the river into Arizona, lias all the apparent barren- 
ness of a desert. For miles and miles in many lati- 
tudes, there is one unbroken level of a sandy surface 
dotted here and there with an undergrowth of sage 
brnsh, mesquite, palo-verde, and the indomitable 
cacli. One important desert characteristic to be found 
largely in Arizona, is the lack of water. In travel- 
ing over the sections just alluded to, the traveler has 
to resort to his canteen filled with water, for a day 
or two's march. The stage coaches and freight trains 
across the plains have to carry large hogsheads of 
water for their animals. This is one of the many 
things that increases the freight rates in this Territory. 
In Arizona one has all the facilities for experiencing 



78 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

a travel on a desert without going to Africa. The 
monotony of some of these trips " across these des- 
erts " is great, and yet they are interesting in their 
very monotony, and under the well managed regu- 
lations of some of the stage companies. 

I remember a ride of this kind I had in the early 
course of my travels, from Ehrenberg to Prescott the 
capital. It was during the month of August, and 
the thermometer stood about 115° Fahr. The morn- 
ing was a bright one. The burning and brilliant sun, 
seemed to cast a glaring halo around every thing. 
The sand of the riverbank which crept up to the very 
door sills of the houses, and then crept all around 
them to the back door, was one burning strand. I 
doubt whether I could have walked in my bare feet 
upon it. It was Sunday, and the Indians about 
town, having learned from the whites the custom of 
attiring themselves in their better dress on that day, 
were out in their fresh new pieces of calico; and with 
tawdry feathers, or charms of beads around their 
necks ; were strutting up and down thr* shores of the 
river to my intense amusement. You will understand 
when I use the word calico, it is not as we would 
consider it an article of dress; but simply a piece of 




MOJAVE INDIANS AT EHRENBEEG TAKING THEIR SUNDAY WALK 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 81 

calico two or three yards long, thrown around the 
shoulders like a shawl and allowed to come below 
the hips — in some cases down to the knees. Should 
the wind blow, or from any cause whatever, this arti- 
cle of apparel showed any signs of becoming loosened 
from the body, they would guard their person with it, 
with all the grace, modesty and cunning of a belle. 

Six horses to our coach and we pulled out of 
Ehrenberg for Prescott. Each man filled his canteen 
with water. Two large kegs were filled for the hor- 
ses, and put in the boot. The whole of this day was 
a desert ride. On the right of us was sand, on the 
left of us was sand ; to the front of us was sand and 
behind us was sand. In the distance, and all around 
us was the ever present indefatigable, persistent moun- 
tain, ever the pleasing and interesting society of the 
Arizona traveler. Up the river were the great 
" Needles " 

Almost immediately upon leaving the town we 
struck a dry sandy bed, into which the wheels of our 
coach buried themselves to twice the depth of the 
fell. The day's journey throughout, was one contin- 
uous level plain of similar substance save an occa- 
sional relief of a fertile plateau. 



82 PICTURESQUE ARIZOXA. 

The first great diversion of these trips is the peculiar 
and interesting mountain ranges and groups that dot- 
ting these plains in all directions, seem to hem } r ou in 
on every side The mountains of all this country are 
peculiar in their formation, being broken up in clus- 
ters or patches, and dotting the plains and valleys in 
a most beautiful relief. They occupy such relation to 
each other, or are so diffusely distributed that they 
completely encircle you on all sides, and at all times, 
and at every compass. One will often travel hundreds 
of miles and although passing seemingly beyond his 
present encircled position with the mountain ranges, 
he is as rapidly encircled by others. Ahead of him he 
will see an opening or gap between two mountain 
spires which would seemingly let him out upon some 
almost endless plain. No sooner has he scarcely got 
through these — nor when, nor how, he scarcely knows 
— than he is as mysteriously encircled by another, 
as fully diversified and interesting as the former. 
You seem to be constantly within some huge amphi- 
theatre, or miniature world surrounded by all the gro- 
tesque and wonderful upheavals of mountain forma- 
tions. In front of you for instance, may now be seen 
some spires or turrets finding their way into heaven. 




MAP OF THE ANCIENT PROVINCE OF 
TUSAYAN, ARIZONA. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 83 

To the right, pinnacled peaks and boulders fret the 
azure blue sky. To the left, domes and pyramids 
rear their ponderous heads as if not to be moved even 
by faith, and behind you to the west, truncated cones 
and towers and spires; and spires and towers and 
cones pierce the golden horizon of a setting sun. 

This tantalizes your powers of description. How 
you get into these natural panoramas you never know. 
As you ride along, some change of mountain view 
ahead will take place as if by magic. It will fasten 
itself upon your notice. Being prompted to look 
around to find your bearing, when lo ! the whole pan- 
orama has changed. Let you watch ever so closely, 
you can never discern nor comprehend exactly how 
you got away from your former scene of enchantment. 
The mathematician can understand this, and explains 
it by the deception of the lateral angle, in its vast field 
of extent over large and unaccustomed plains or areas. 
Some of these mountains were one, five, eight, ten, 
and even twenty miles away, but their lapping, relap- 
ping, crossing and rounding each other, would produce 
the effect described. 



CHAPTER VI. 



GILA CITY— A FRONTIER HOTEL— TAKING THE CENSUS — CELESTIAL 
PHENOMENA — MEDITATION — A SETTING SUN IN ARIZONA. 



OUR course to the Santa Rita Mountains lay along 
the Gila Valley Our start from Yuma not being 
made until the sun was high in the heavens, only 
twenty-two miles were made the first day, to Gila City. 
Gila City ! The remnants of an ambition often revived, 
and as often overthrown ; a living skeleton of a min- 
er's hope and fancy, and the scene evidently, in days 
gone by, of all the vicissitudes of a miner's and pros- 
pector's life on the borders of our country. In 1861 
the population of this city numbered about twelve 
hundred persons. To-day it is composed of a stable 
for the stage company's vehicles and animals, a corral 
for sheep or stock, a square box-like building, built 
of mud, one story high, and called the " Gila Hotel," 






PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 85 

and a kennel for the big ferocious dog who keeps sus- 
picious-looking stragglers and Indians away. The 
census of this city, taken while there was just — let me 
see — the hotel keeper and his son — two, a man to at- 
tend to the stage horses— one, an Indian squaw, boy 
and papoose — three, three dogs — three. Making in 
all nine living beings. 

Attractive mountains profusely distributed on all 
sides made an interesting back-ground, while between 
them and the hotel (or city) scores of sand and gravel 
hills from three to ten feet high, like humps on a 
camel's back, gave to the scene an odd appearance. 
In one of these little knolls, just opposite the hotel, 
was a " dug-out," protected from the rains or scorch- 
ing sunlight by a few cacti barks and frames, in which 
dwelt a remnant of some roving band of Indians. 

Nothing exciting disturbed the quiet of this place 
at the time of our visit. Only one man had been shot 
the day before our arrival, and the perpetrator was 
then off in the mountains looking for more gold heaps. 
I said there was nothing stirring in town; I had for- 
gotten our own arrival. Imagine what a stir, to in- 
crease a town to double its size at one time, would 
produce. As we drew up in front of the hotel, the 



86 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

dogs began to bark ; the Indians from across the way 
crept out from their humble hut and cast their stoic 
gaze upon us ; and the landlord greeted us with a 
truly thankful smile. The dogs barked ; the Indians 
laughed their chug-a-wa ; and the landlord smiled 
three dollars worth at each one of the party. This is 
what it costs the traveler to get supper, lodging and 
breakfast in the land of theChemehuevis. This is the 
first intimation I have made of the costs of traveling in 
Arizona. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear, 
and don't go to Arizona without first reckoning up 
the costs; and those who have eyes to see, let them 
not go it blind. 

When the landlord, however, found that we were 
an ambulance corps and commissary department com- 
bined, his lower jaw dropped like the tail of a cat in 
distress. I do not know whether he had or had 
not paid for his last bill of goods from Yuma. 

As we approached the city (by the way, it seems 
like a cruel pollution of the English language to call 
these squatting places, cities, but when you are " among 
the Eomans you must do as the Romans do " ) we 
were struck with the peculiar immediate change in the 
surrounding country. It was our first introduction to 




\iM.YUCV\OUS. St 



AN INDIAN WARRIOR. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 89 

the peculiar mountain and valley scenery of Arizona, 
and I immediately cherished the idea that upon the 
instance of the Trans-Continental Railroad through 
the Territory, a new school for the artist will have 
been ushered into a practical existence. I shall never 

forget Gila. " Fair Gila ! on the " Gila Eiver ; and 

the particular impressions made upon me there are all 
the more fastened upon my mind when I recollect my 
subsequent travels through the Territory, and I say 
here, that Arizona is the coming land of the artist, as 
well as of the miner and farmer. Like Jacob we 
pitched our tent to the rear of the town near the 
mnks of the flowing Gila. The first entertainment in 
this initiatory camping scene, was a chorus from fry- 
ing pans, kettles, etc., etc., and the laughing and cant- 
ings of our steadfast friends, the mules. Did you 
ever hear a mule bray? If not, you certainly want 
to before you die. It is as essential, and fully as in- 
teresting as seeing Mecca. 

The table was spread — on the ground. Seats were 
arranged — on the ground. Our table was the 
ground, our table cloth was the ground ; our seats 
were the ground. At night our bed was the ground 
with a goodly supply of blankets. Of course, the 



90 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

first thing was supper, and we will leave the reader 
from his own imagination to supply his own puns, 
suffer his own vicissitudes, crack his own jokes, etc., 
as may best accord with his own experience on such 
occasions. Supper over, and chatting a la picnic we 
were attracted lry a peculiar light and brilliancy in the 
heavens beyond the mountains, and lining the whole 
horizon. Its brilliancy and extent would have sug- 
gested the reflection of a world's conflagration ; but 
the panoramic and kaleidoscopic effects, with the va- 
riegated hues, put far from us in our wonder and ad- 
miration, all thoughts of this, and suggested some 
great celestial panorama. Hues and combinations of 
colors most charming and new to the most of us, in 
their arrangement, flitter and change at will. Clouds 
of brilliant hues would roll gently along the moun- 
tains, and in their course, would slowly and almost 
imperceptibly change in color and outline. Every 
one of our party sat spell-bound, until some enrap- 
tured sense would cause them to whisper in a scarcely 
audible sound, "What a rose tint! What a beauti- 
ful crimson ! What a beautiful! beautiful! — beauti- 
ful ! " — and then a deep sigh would end their effusions, 
and they would settle back into a discontented mood 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 9 3 

at being unable to analyze to themselves what they 
saw. But in vain did we try to find any known color 
to convey to the mind what the eye beheld. 

These phenomena are frequent in this clime and 
these latitudes, and are one of the many allurements 
that will attract the tourist to the Territory It seems 
to me that in Arizona you meet, in an extended and 
more extensive form the sunsets of Southern Cali- 
fornia, so wonderfully described by Bayard Taylor. 
Italy, I think, can scarce excel tliem in beauty ; and 
in the various phenomena of their lights, science still 
finds a work to do in analyzing their causes. 

Sunsets of a sublime character are frequent in this 
land of heat, light and electricity. One seen in the 
month of October I will give : 

A dingy haze of crimson stretched from the horizon 
and covering a third of the heaven's disc. So dense 
was the mist that the outline of the Sun which was 
just approaching the horizon could barely be traced; 
and yet the light thrown over this third of the heavens 
seemed as though the sun had dissolved, and distri- 
buted its rays equally throughout. The heavens were 
a complete glow from horizon to zenith, and was 
rapidly changing in colors and densities. Here was 



94 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

a deep scarlet patch flickering into a pale pink and 
as rapidly fading away, and leaving an invisible blue 
to intervene and play with other rapid transformations. 
The whole gradually formed into a circular segment, 
of a more uniform color, and darker, and paler. The 
elements however, in their restlessness did not suffer 
this long to remain. Fluttering like a " ribbon in the 
wind," the whole finally disintegrated itself into a 
beautiful mass of fleeting, flickering, fretting mottled 
patches. The sky was full of electricity. Quivering 
masses of rose, violet, purple and blue, flittered across 
the heaven's dome in all the choicest variegations. 
I stopped and watched in silence. It was just sucli 
scenes as this, thought I, that made the beasts of the 
woods howl and whine at times, at Aurora's caprice. 
Presently the element settled down its agitated spirit, 
and the whole sky wore a pale mellow light — like a 
blazoned background covered with a gauze — the heav- 
ier blaze being dimly seen through it. This lasted but 
a few minutes, when, at the horizon it rolled aside and 
left, exposed to view, the Sun — first a ball of solid fire, 
then a three-quarter ball, then a half and a quarter 
ball, until " old Sol " finally dropped his head from 
before our gaze, throwing his spears of light out after 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 95 

him equal in beauty to any aurora borealis I ever saw. 
We stopped still and watched it ; as we turned away, 
looked back upon it and finally left with a sigh. 

To the atmosphere is due to a large extent these 
many phenomena. We liad not arisen from our sup- 
per table. We were all seated on the ground. Dark- 
ness stealing over us brought us to our senses and a 
general rustle was made to clear the supper debris. 

Supper cleared, (put your own interpretation on the 
word " cleared ") and we all proceeded down to the 
corral, a few rods from our camp, to get straw for a 
comfortable bed. Each grabbed an armful of hay and 
proceeded back to the scene of dirty frying pans, mu- 
tilated biscuit, and broken cups of custard. We 
spread our beds of straw and retired. Never did the 
stars seem so bright to me, or to have such a signi- 
ficance. Never was I in better humor, or felt more 
vigorous. I commenced counting the stars, but like 
every one else who ever attempted it, I stopped 
in short metre. Then I commenced muttering over 
to myself such phrases as these : u God's footstool for 
my bed, and his firmament for my canopy/' " — but 
the son of man hath not where to lay his head." 
" The heavens declare thy glory, Lord." " A stone 



96 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

for a pillow." But all this was under that anomolous 
condition that transforms unpleasant conditions into 
present ones of pleasure. Do not think I was un- 
happy for all my utterances, for I was the happiest, in 
my present sphere. I was enjoying myself highly. 
Perhaps it was the particular culinary conditions of 
our outfit that offset all others. Our stomachs were 
full. Yes, full ! For the Colonel would never let 
any one go to bed hungry. Perhaps it was my stom- 
ach that magnified the stars on this occasion. 

This panorama was supplemented by a " grey of the 
morning" peculiar to Arizona's light, and interesting. 
The electric tints of gold and crimson that so grace- 
fully bedecked the mountains the night before, had 
changed to a peculiar deep greyish-blue; and in this 
transformation had apparently brought each particular 
peak or range from a glorious pinnacle of brilliant 
light, down to the positive and austere condition of 
something more substantial. The whole range seemed 
to be transformed from a mission of Aurora to reflect 
and charm the world broadcast, to a massive wall of 
some creation's ampitheatre austerely hemming us in. 
Thay seemed to have come down to half their height, 
and to have encroached to within half the distance 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 99 

toward us. The effect was weird and interesting. 
It was a case of the peculiar and engaging deceptions 
of atmospheric refraction peculiar to the land of the 
cacti. 

Such effects are constantly presenting themselves to 
the traveler in Arizona, in all species of mirage and 
looming. Col. Boyle, a member of the Geological So- 
ciety of London, remarked in his enchantment at one 
of these mirages, that '* It is, in itself, worth a trip all 
the way from London to see." Often, scenes, such as 
those just alluded to will have a controlling effect 
upon man and beast alike. Frequently, in the dead 
of night or at a noon day's sun, when the heavens 
blaze with a glaring light; or the near firmament, 
with its billions of atomic lenses make a panorama of 
of itself for the portraying of the world at large, the 
wild beasts will suffer the most strange effects. Foxes 
will leave their holes and howl a requiem mass to all 
the nation's quadrupeds at once ; and the coyote will 
follow in their wake with no less zeal. At night the 
scene is often weird, and although the lamentations of 
the brute creation will strike terror and discomfort to 
the tender heart; even in these a suggestive interest 
predominates. At night or day, phantasms, and illu- 



100 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

sions are wrought with interest and admiration ; but 
the mirage of Arizona is destined to be one of the lead- 
ing features of the attraction to this lower country. 

I will give a description of a mirage seen by me on 
the Maricopa Desert in latitude. 33°, longitude 112°. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE MIRAGE— A CITY NOT BUILT WITH HANDS — ONWARD FROM 
GILA— THE SAGUARA — THE STURDY SENTINEL OP THE PLAIN 
THE MESQUITE— THE PALO-VERDE— A DESERT RITE WITH 
GROWTH. 



IT was just past noon. The nearest elevation was 
the Montezuma Mountain, jutting up from the 
level sandy plain which everywhere surrounded us, 
To our left, over the endless sandy loam covered with 
a stunted growth of grass weed, mesquite and cacti, 
we looked out upon what seemed to be the ocean's deep 
with a sandy beach. To the left down the shore was 
"round tower" and a fortress extending out into the 
sea. Above was a round turretted building, massive, 
with ships anchored near it, and others approaching. 
Between the two a line of ships, with silver sails 
were coursing along the shore, while lower down 
again, and off the great fort, came slowly up a ponder- 



102 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

ons man-of-war with its broadsides to, flying llie 
American flag. Beyond, out on the mighty deep, rose 
an island profusely decorated with houses, castles, 
churches, whose spires lifted their lofty heads well 
into the silver clouds that floated above, and the whole 
capped by a huge white cloud. On the shore numer- 
ous persons could be indistinctly seen gliding phantom- 
like to and fro. This was the great picture painted 
on this canvas of Nature's immense firmament by the 
great Natural Painter. 

Never had I witnessed such a system of looming. 
Hardly had we feasted our soul's desire on this charm- 
ing picture of nature, than nature despoiled our 
dreamy gaze only to throw us into a renewed ecstacy 
by a transformation. Castles were converted into 
farm houses with orchards and meadowed lawns. 
Ships w^ere converted into palaces, and launched upon 
some islands on the sea which had now changed into 
a charming crystal lake, with borders of forest and 
evergreen trees. Men were transformed into roaming 
beasts, or lifted into the air by aid of soaring wings. 
Phantom-like, ships would rise from the water's edge and 
gracefully glide on some new sheet of water formed in 
mid-air, or upon some floating sheets of ice, as if in 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA 105 

Arctic explorations. Cities would float before you 
in distant mid-air, in lofty grandeur ; and regiments 
of soldiers, and palm tree's, and plants of distant climes, 
and ancient castles and Indian huts; and lakes and 
rivers aud mountains would dot here and there the 
whole, making up this picture of super-human gran- 
deur and beauty. You look upon the mist before you, 
watching each transformation as eagerly as the boy at 
his first panorama, until your imagination is unwit- 
tingly taken possession of and you labor under the 
phantasm that you are beholding a charming Fata- 
morgan a on the straits of Messina in Italy: and like 
that boy, you are for the time lost to all the outside 
world. Then in an instant a thin gauze is dropped 
over this phantom spectre, audit begins to fade gently, 
until this panorama has faded into oblivion, and your 
eye again stretches over the great plains of Arizona 
until it is lost. 

You spur your mules or asses on, take a sandwich 
from the bottom of the wagon and then begin the con- 
troversy concerning your opinions and delights of the 
vision just passed, which is the chief topic the rest of 
the day. 

Onward east from the station Gila — we cannot call 



106 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

it much else — and along the river of the same name, 
one is attracted bj r the broad expanse of the valley ; and 
subsequent!)' when he investigates farther into the in- 
terests — into the fertility and characteristics of this great 
arroya, he is amazed at his own credulity of its future 
resources. The Gila valley resembles very much the 
valley of the river Nile. Alex. H. Wilden, Esq., 
who was one of our party, a venerable gentleman and 
an extensive traveler, nick-named it the American 
Nile. The properties of its soil like those of the great 
Columbia and Umpqua Rivers of Oregon and Wash- 
ington Territories, and the famous Sacramento Eiver 
of California, are fast becoming a leading consideration 
for all those giving their attention to the coast. Here 
is a valley which has been, for centuries back, as far 
at least as the fourteenth century, when the Aztecs were 
in their prime (and perhaps further, as but very few 
evidences suggest that they cultivated it to any ex- 
tent) that has been, I say, serving as a collossal recep- 
tacle for a vast rich deposit of the decompositions of 
the surrounding mountains, which has been carried 
and swept into it by the rains and winds. Professor 
Atkinson has accounted for the luxuriant growths of 
the wonderful Walla Walla and Umpqua valleys, by 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA 10 7 

certain mineral deposits from the mountains. He 
says :— 

' : The volcanic overflows, traceable in the Cascade 
mountains, that formed on cooling their basal tdykes 
and cliffs, with their peculiar columnar crystallization, 
added much to the soil. Immense quantities of vol- 
canic ashes doubtless were blown by winds or carried 
by streams into those ancient lakes, giving like valua- 
ble deposits. 1 ' 

** These deposits " lie continues further, "consist of 
potash, soda, lime, magnesia, and ph< sphoric and sili- 
cia acids." All of these constituents abound largely 
in the Gila valley lands — the proportions varying with 
the location. 

We give below a table of analyzed mud taken from 

the Colorado Kiver: 

Oxide of Manganese — trace Insoluble in Hydrochloric 

Acid 78.100 

Hydroscopic Water 3.270 

Chemically bound Water, Soluble in Hydrochloric 

^cid 1.140 

Potassa .103 

Soda, with trace of Lithia 074 

Lime 000 

Carbonate of Lime 12.500 

Magnesia GO 

Oxide of Iron. 000 

Alumina 2.260 

Phosphoric Acid 146 

Sulphuric Acid trace. 

As you go east, the evidences of rich vegetable 



108 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

properties show themselves in the prolific growth of 
grasses abundant on every hand, and the nutrition of 
those in the interior as you approach the mountain 
ranges of the West, attest the richness of the soil. 
The famous gramma grass which is abundant in the 
interior, is a valuable pasture for cattle and sheep. 
The bunch grasses, all of which are very nutritious, 
that abound, are also evidences of fertile soil. Besides 
these, there is a prolific growth of shrub or under trees. 
The palo-verde is an evergreen and leafless tree, which 
varies in height from a good-sized bush to a large 
apple tree. It is described by a writer as a beautiful 
tree; I should rather term it an interesting one. Be- 
ing odd and curious it attracts one's attention until 
in its strange contrast one is apt to call it beautiful. 
Criss-crossing each other at irregular angles, the 
branches of these trees, straight or slightly curved, 
form a curious network. They resemble somewhat 
the willow stalk shorn of all its leaves. Not a leaf of 
any kind adorns this gracefully rigid tree. Where the 
leaves should be, is the same barren stem or stalk jut- 
ting out from the petiole or branch, a fac-simile of the 
petiole itself: in short, a tree in which the stem (or 
trunk), the branch, the petiole and the leaf, are all 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 109 

fac-simile productions of one and the same thing, de- 
creasing in size until the leaf is simply a perfect sem- 
blance of a huge thorn, or as though the mid-rib of 
the leaf had been pushed out — nature forgetting to 
supply it with its veins and flesh. The whole struc- 
ture is a curious and interesting study in itself. 

These peculiar growths of the deserts of Arizona 
are one of the leading features of interest to the trav- 
eler. The innumerable cacti, the palo-verde, the deer 
bush, a squad of branches shooting up from a common 
centre and resembling somewhat, high deer horns ; 
and the famous and productive mesquite tree cover 
the desert. Of the innumerable cacti, we will simply 
refer to the one great species confronting you every- 
where in this great cacti Territory — the Saguara. 
These specimens will often grow a straight, upright 
stalk to the height of fifty feet ; a stiff mass of green 
pulp and frame work, with a most beautiful system of 
net work resembling crocheting with spangled stars, 
and with prongs and coloring matter running through 
the whole length of the structure. As a support to 
these immense giant structures against the storms and 
hurricanes of the desert, nature has furnished a frame 
of immense strength, consisting of series of stalks of 



110 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

hard wood running from the root to the top form- 
ing a perpendicular cylinder in its course. In 
the hollow of this cylinder there is contained a vast 
quantity of milky substance, upon the principle of the 
milk of the cocoanut, often amounting to many gal- 
lons. This has often served as a life-preserving ele- 
ment to the traveler over these deserts. Many a 
pioneer's life has been saved by these "useless 
growths " as some have been wont to call the cacti. 
Besides this, the wood of the frame being strong and 
tough, has often served too, to furnish material for the 
building of many a miner's or ranchman's house. The 
strips of wood resemble, very much hickory and oak 
and I have seen whole towns in Arizona, where the 
roof, sides and partitions of the house were built of 
this material, provided there was not more than one 
house in the town, and the occupants did not expect 
to stay more than six months or a year. (People must 
get an idea of what the word "town " means in Ari- 
zona.) What we would convey is, that this material is 
very useful in building temporary abodes ; and in the 
absence of the larger timber, as is almost the universal 
rule in Arizona. The Saguara is another species of the 
cacti family, which contradicts the too often applied 



PICTURESQUE ARIZOXA. 113 

epithet of " uselessness," and is verifying the more 
rational proverb that "there is good in all things." 
In relation to this we might pertinently refer to the 
cacti of the great Mojave desert in California, properly 
known as the Tucca Palm. Here is a strip of land 
averaging in the aggregate three hundred by four hun- 
dred miles each way, in length tying obliquely south- 
east and northwest. The main area is profusely cov- 
ered with the Tucca Palm. For miles and miles, and 
for hours, the train rushes through this orchard of 
cacti ; and to all appearances, it is the very embodi- 
ment of an orchard laid out upon a large scale (each 
tree averaging about the size of a peach tree) except 
than being laid out in rows they are scattered promis- 
cuously over the land ; but at such regular distances 
from eacli other that the whole forms a pleasing sym- 
metry. The tree is a unique, interesting structure. 
It is composed of a trunk averaging a half to three 
quarters of a foot in diameter with only a limited 
number of heavy stalky branches jutting from or near 
the top, and on the end of which protrudes a huge, 
round ball (or oblong speroid) gracefully beset with 
porcupine-like thorns. For years and years, and for 
aught we know for centuries, this product has faced 



114 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

the hurricanes, tornadoes, sand storms, and drouths of 
the desert, stretching their sway over an area greater 
than the States of New Hampshire, Vermont, Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut and Ehode Island combined, 
and handing the enterprise of men of science to use 
them, until within the past few years, since when, a 
company has been formed for the purpose of convert- 
ing the Tucca Palm into paper. It produces a fine 
quality of paper in almost every grade; is found to be 
suitable for any purpose, and is consequently finding 
a ready market. One enterprising house in San Fran- 
cisco, contracted, (after testing specimens, and but a 
short time after the establishing of the company) for 
all the company could make ; and we learn now that 
several newspapers in San Francisco are being printed 
upon it. Thus we see, there is " good in all things ; " 
and w r e will concede that the great army of Saguara 
that have been for ages — perhaps since the world was 
created — holding sovereign sway over the deserts of 
the Territory, will at some time serve a more hospita- 
ble and genial misson to man than is now accredited 
to it. 

So our travels through this land of the cacti is, as 
every one's must be, essentially through deserts, until 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 115 

the industry and civilization of man turn mountains 
into mole-bills, and Leaps of sand into the river, to get 
at the valuable (not filthy) lucre that lives in iis very 
bowels, 



CHAPTEE YIIL 



A DESERT WHICH IS NOT ALL DESERT— FROM DOS PALMS TO PRES- 
COTT— SENSATIONS ON THE DESERT— A. SOUTHERN MOON 
— SAND-STORMS — A CITY OF THE DESERT— BREATHING AIR 
— SILVER THREADS AND GOLDEN NUGGETS. 



THE term " desert " is a misnomer, we are com- 
pelled to believe, even in this early stage of the 
Territory's history. As widely significant as this 
word may be applied, we seem to be drawing too 
liberally upon its application. 

With the name "desert" has always been associated 
visions of the most weird nature. 

Eight here, the article headed "A defence of the 
desert " which appeared in the Yuma Sentinel of April 
6th, 1878, and which so graphically describes, and so 
thoroughly comprehends the leading features of the 
deserts (so called) of both Arizona and California, we 
give below : 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 117 

It has become a custom to look upon the desert, 
lying between the Colorado Kiver and the Coast 
Mountains of California, as upon an abomination of 
desolation — utterly without value, void of beauty, and 
incapable of supporting any kind of life. This im- 
pression was heightened in the mind of the former 
traveler to Arizona, by the birds- e} T e view of the des- 
ert afforded him from the mountains at its western 
edge ; the clear atmosphere increases the range of vis- 
ion ; altitude and distance absorb detail and blend 
color, till the desert appears a silent, lifeless monotone 
of russet gray. He braced himself up to repel the awe 
with which this view invariably inspired him ; tradi- 
tions of the Sahara, of caravans dying of thirst or 
buried by sand-storms, and a sense of danger, closed 
his mind to all appreciations of the desert's peculiar 
beauties, or observation of its value to man. He 
hailed with glad relief the green willows of the Colo- 
rado, and on his return to civilization, added his testi- 
mony to other travelers' tales about the horrors of the 
desert. The modern traveler crosses it by rail, he 
strikes it after dark, turns into a sleeping car, gets an 
early breakfast at Yuma — and he too adds to the 
stories of the desert perils. Men have died on this 



118 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

desert, of thirst and beat; but so do they die in New 
York State of hanger and cold. The man without 
water dies as surely in a sand-drift, as he without food 
does in drifts of snow. The latter make a blinding, 
leafless, lifeless, monotonous desert of white, by far 
more fatal to man than is San Diego's desert of sand, 
with its varying tints and invigorating air. 

The perfect health of station-keepers, railroad men 
and other inhabitants of the desert, amply proves 'its 
climatic suitability to man's residence. To carry mails 
and passengers, it became necessary to dig wells at 
proper intervals along the stage road ; palatable water 
was found at depths varying from twenty to sixty feet. 
The railroad company has bored artesian wells and was 
rewarded by a copious flow of water. 

Agriculture has been tried, notably at Toros; fine 
crops of grain, vegetables, fruits and alfalfa have re- 
paid the application of water and labor to the soil of 
the desert. There are stretches of shifting sand-dunes 
apparently as worthless and. extensive, as were those 
around San Francisco; these may never be reclaimed 
— nor will those to the northwest of Guadalupe, in 
Santa Barbara County. There are great plains, called 
"playas," of a deep, unctuous, black soil, as heavv and 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 119 

rich as the adobe lands around Stockton. Every one 
who has traversed them after the rain, will recollect the 
masses of mud that clung^ to his wheels. Where irri- 
gation is not possible, the date-palm, the paper-fibre- 
yucca and other desert-loving plants will reward man's 
enterprise. Growing of dates here is yet an untried 
experiment, whose success is predicated upon results 
obtained on the deserts of Asia and Africa. The 
manufacture of paper-stock from yucca is an estab- 
lished industry, employing many men and consider- 
ble machinery. Over sixteen hundred square miles of 
this area lie below the level of the Colorado River, 
and can be irrigated from its waters. Most of its soil 
is alluvial and enriched with shells and other products 
of the sea that once stormed above it. These shells 
are seen in the greatest profusion by the most superfi- 
cial observer ; the scientist has classified them in great 
variety. 

Just as not all of the desert is a waste of sand, so is 
not all of it fit for agriculture. Hocks and mountains 
here assert themselves in about the same proportion 
that they do in other countries. But these are far 
from valueless ; this fact is being daily demonstrated 
as men begin to realize that the desert offers some. 



120 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

thing worth looking for. Quartz-mills and smelting 
furnaces have already been erected on the desert 
mines of Ivanpah, Resting Springs and elsewhere on 
its western edge. Silver, lead and copper occur there 
in ores rich enough to excite the wonder of miners. 
Asbestos of remarkably long fibre is found near the 
San Gorgonio Pass. Gold occurs on its eastern edge 
in quantities great enough to have caused the cele- 
brated Colorado River excitement of 1861 ; and mines 
of it are still worked at Chimney Peak and Carga 
Muchacho. Lead, silver and copper also occur as 
abundantly on this side, as on the western side of the 
desert. These facts give credibility to reports of rich 
discoveries in mid-desert, made by prospectors too 
poor to develop mines at a distance from natural 
waters. Immense deposits of pure salt have been dis- 
covered by railroad surveyors and other explorers. 
The railroad company is now endeavoring to build up 
a trade in supplying salt to the Arizona silver-mills. 
The northern arm of this desert furnishes beds of 
borax so large that the markets of the world are 
glutted with it ; so large that their produce reduced 
the price from fifty cents per pound to eight and twelve 
in a few years, Borax occurs in quantity in the 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 121 

vicinity of Seven Wells and other points nearer Yuma, 
whence beautiful crystals of it have been obtained. 
Gypsum is a common product of the desert, widely 
diffused; flakes of selenite are found in nearly all the 
canons coming in from the West, while great masses 
of this lovely mineral are found at many points. 
Pumice-stone of excellent quality is found on the rail- 
road and in many other places; thousands of tons of 
it lie piled in masses; the engineers are now using it 
for polishing their locomotives. Sulphur is found in 
banks rivaling those of northern California in size and 
purity. All Yuma remembers the beautiful speci- 
mens of it that Dan Connor used to bring in. The 
southern arm of the desert, running down into Sonora, 
has beds of soda from which vessels were loaded, on 
their return trips from Guaymas to Europe; similar 
beds are found in other portions of it. Thermal 
springs, sulphur and chalybeate, occur in many parts, 
as do those of warm, bubbling, medicated mud; the 
Indians well know their healing properties in all forms 
of rheumatism, and of skin and venereal diseases. 
Potter's clay is abundant enough ; while decomposi- 
tion of feldspathic rocks has given the desert beds of 
kaolin, extensive enough to rival those of Dresden or 



122 PIOTUBESQUK ARIZONA. 

Sevres. But we must have recounted enough of the 
desert's resources, to satisfy the average reader that it 
is far from being utterly valueless. 

The desert has features of beauty — (rod lias made 
nothing without lb em. At daylight, refraction lifts 
and distorts the horizon in changing and pleasing 
forms; later it delights the fancy with mirages of 
scenery more beautiful than this world lias ever real- 
ized ; twilight bathes all in cheerful tints that distance 
blends to a soft purple, never to be forgotten. Dis- 
tant mountains cut the pure air with sharp outlines 
that add much to the scenic effect. The sun rises on 
a cloudless sky in a flood of rosy light; it sinks in 
golden glory. Every rain brings forth galleta and 
other grasses to show that the desert is not an ab- 
solute barren ; spring adorns it with flowers of deli- 
cate beauty and of remarkable fragrance. Our " azu- 
cena " is only the original, uncultivated tuberose, and 
many more of the^e desert flowers will yet be de- 
veloped into choice exotics for eastern hot-houses. 
The lo'ver of nature will be pleased with the variet} 
and novelty of desert Flora ; the utilitarian will be 
surprised to learn their many uses. 

The desert is not a solitude; life abounds in it; 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 123 

beast, birds, reptiles and insects occur in quantity sur- 
prising to one who knows the scarcity of surface 
water. Rabbits, hares and coyotes seem to be the 
largest animals, but chipmonks, gophers and moles 
appear to be most abundant ; the ground is honey- 
conied with their homes. All of them are found as 
far as twenty, or more miles from any known water. 
In other parts of California, the presence of quails in- 
dicates proximity of water; this is not so on the des- 
ert, where large flocks are found very far from water. 
The buzzing of honey-gathering flies or bees, lulls to 
sleep him who reposes under the palo-verde or iron- 
wood. Mocking-birds and other songsters enliven the 
vicinity of water, and ruby-throated humming-birds 
suck its flowers. Most of these desert denizens are of 
nocturnal habits; the hot sun drives them to shade by 
day. Ravens and crows seem to live on lizards, which 
in turn live on flies and ants that are .abroad only by 
daylight. But on moonlight nights the others turn 
out in vast numbers. Reptiles are numerous, but we 
have never heard of any one being hurt by them. A 
tortoise is common here, which grows among rocks 
and sand to a weight of twenty-five pounds, and is 
eaten by some Indians. 



124 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

The winter climate of the desert is good; the ther- 
mometer rarely falls to 40° and rarely reaches 80°. 
The air is pure and dry as that of high mountains, 
while its low elevation (in some parts below sea-level) 
makes it less rarified — it has more oxygen to the same 
bulk, and no gasping is caused to the invalid with 
half a lung. In summer the heat is high, but dry and 
not oppressive ; rapid evaporation keeps the skin cool. 
Perspiration is constant; this benefits invalids in 
whom unimpeded functions of the skin may relieve 
diseases of kidneys or lungs. 

A man who has lived out on the desert is always 
glad to go back, if he can be assured of comfort and 
company. Its charms are indescribable, but most 
men succumb to them as soon as they get off their 
guard against imaginary dangers. 

I shall never forget my experience on going over a 
portion of this very desert described, of Mojave in 
Arizona, on my way from Dos Palms in California, to 
Prescott the capital of Arizona. It was a matter of 
three days' and three nights' ride. I remember with 
what visions I took my seat beside the driver on top 
the overland stage coach. I think in the few minutes 
that elapsed between my taking my seat and the shout 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 125 

of the driver " all aboard," all the agonizing tales of 
starvation and thirst, of sun-stroke, and suffocation 
from sand storms, of desolation and suffering that had 
ever come to me from the Sahara, filled my brain with 
an anxiety of the deepest interest It was midnight 
of a bright, moonlight night, and as the stage rolled 
off, the pleasing jolt I thought, knocked all unpleas- 
ant anticipations out of ma The rarity of the atmos- 
phere, which is proverbial with these deserts of our 
South, brought the distant mountains many miles 
away, so near that one would fancy he could reach 
them in an hour; while those hundreds of miles 
away, could be seen distinctly with the naked eye. 
The lurid glare of the southern Moon added something 
to this charming feature. I commenced counting the 
stars and comparing the different outlines of the 
mountains, while the turbulent grating of the wheels 
in the sand began to be a music to the already ecstatic 
condition of my nerves. Occasionally the low whin- 
ing howl of the coyote would relieve the quiet, and 
a breeze would gently play with the sand, which was 
a pleasant substitute in sound for the gentle "whispers 
through the trees." Although a " caravan over the 
dreary desert," my time had been so interestingly 



126 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

spent that I was amazed when the silver grey, streak- 
ing the outline of the mountains behind us, betokened 
the approach of the morning ; and subsequently, when 
at 10 o'clock we reached the station for breakfast, the 
whole thing had began to savor strongly of a picnic 
to me — located as the station was, between several lone 
mountain peaks, grown right up out of the level sandy 
mesa, and sternly lifting themselves to hundreds of 
feet in height. These lone peaks and mounts which 
eveiywhere throw themselves up out of the plains of 
the southwest, are a feature of leading interest to the 
traveler. Like brilliant croppings of a sterile mind 
they redeem their grosser surroundings, and by 
their pleasing contrasts, the whole is leavened and 
the glory of the Maker is verified in the very thing we 
dubbed as useless; and the "good in all things," 
again proved. 

The name of the station was Canyon Springs. It 
was a good initiation to travel. I cannot do better 
justice to the imagination of man than to simply give 
him figures and allow him to draw his own conclu- 
sions. The population of the place consisted of three ; 
dogs — one, donkeys — one, men — one. The man he 
fed us. The dog he barked for us, and the donkey he 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA 127 

looked at us. The thermometer stood 120° Fahr. 
For breakfast we had ham, potatoes, coffee without 
mlik or sugar, and bread without butter. Price one dol- 
lar. This is a desert hotel ; and it was better than those 
often encountered — worse than some few. Seated on 
a plank board laid across two home-made "horses," 
with a table composed of the same elements, we broke 
our fast, relished it, and did not begrudge the man his 
dollar. Milk and butter are very scarce on the des- 
erts — in many cases not to be had at all. We had 
come fifteen miles since our departure from Dos 
Palms at two in the morning. Our appetites were 
good ; and the refreshment received from the meal, 
the reader will not be able to comprehend nor appre- 
ciate except he has not only ridden across the plains 
in a stage coach, but actually done so in Southern 
California or Arizona. The translucent atmosphere 
and the mineral properties of the climate which, on 
tliis occasion seemed to excel any ever previously 
experienced by me, are characteristic only of this or 
like locations. The alkalies, mixed with the pungent 
odors which the wild shrubs and flowe.s sent out, 
acted alike as powerful invigorators and narcotics. I 
liave ridden over some of these desert — so called — lo- 



1'28 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

cations when each inhalation seemed to give a special 
vigor. It would seem that you were breathing a sub- 
stance rather than air. There is nothing sluggish in 
it ; but a clear, buoyant, pungent element of vigor 
and strength. 

Kefreshed, and full of the California vim, the trav- 
eler looks at the surrounding mountains and craves to 
pull them down and extract the precious lucre con- 
tained within their folds. He sees in his mind's eye, the 
shining nugget or the brilliant threads of silver, and 
listens to a fellow traveler narrate the golden stories 
of his success in prospecting, or of some thrilling inci- 
dent of mountain life with the Indians, or hair breadth 
escape, or of his misfortune; while the coach wheels 
right here are plodding through six or eight inches of 
heavy sand, and causing a noise resembling very much 
a steamboat blowing off its steam. 

It was on this very trip that I had the wonderful 
fairy -like story of the great " Stonewall Jackson " 
silver mine told to me. And it continued to seem like 
a tale of golden fleece until under subsequent and 
very thrilling circumstances, I actually came in con- 
tact with the original discoverer and owner of it, Cap- 
tain Chas. McMillen, after whom one of the richest 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 129 

mining districts in the world is named. This is the 
McMillen Mining District of Arizona, Of both these 
districts and a detailed history of its discovery by the 
great prospector McMillen, an account will be given 
in a separate chapter. 

On the following morning, October 7th, 1877, we 
reached and crossed the Colorado at early morn, amid 
a halo of a semi-tropical sun. It was my first intro- 
duction to Arizona. The occasion will never be for- 
gotton by me, and to me Arizona to-day has a pecu- 
liar charm. First impressions are the strongest they 
say. 



CHAPTER IX. 

MINING CAPITAL IN ARIZONA — THE " MCCRACKEN " — THE " HAN- 
NIBAL "—THE " STONEWALL JACKSON " — THE GREAT PROS- 
PECTORS, MCMILLEN AND FLOURNOY — "DEAD BROKE" — 
CINNABAR, COPPER, AND TIN— ARIZONA ! WHY SO LONG 
LAIN MUTE? 

UP to January 1st 1874, American mining capital 
in Arizona had never even paid expenses. Bear- 
ing this in mind, the traveler is struck by the marvel 
in the last four years. During this time there has 
been many mines opened, and some of them paying 
large dividends. Bearing in mind these facts, it was a 
a matter of some surprise to me when coming down 
the Colorado on one of the Col. River Navigation Go's 
boats, to find fourteen bars of silver bullion, repre- 
senting in the aggregate a value of about twenty 
thousand dollars. This was from the McCracken 
mine in Mojave county. My surprise gave way to 
satisfaction, when I learned from Mr. Burke, the pur- 
ser, that this was getting to be "quite a common 
occurrence along the river now," and I then con- 
cluded, as I had before surmised, that there was yet 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 131 

a land where the old spirit of '49 might find a new 
vent. Tlie ambitious have now a chance to revive 
the old spirit of early California without doubt. They 
have an opportunity of vindicating their pluck now, 
and their fortunes too, in this land of the Apaches. 

What an advent is there already in the history of 
Arizona. An advent too, I must say, without much 
of the vicissitudes of transition. A writer on Arizona 
four years ago, in noticing the primitive and unsatis- 
factory way mining was carried on there by the Mexi- 
cans, thought that a change could not be accomplished 
without serious results. I must say my observation 
in Arizona was, that this is the most peaceable tran- 
sition I ever witnessed. And Arizona now affords, 
to the followers of '49, an acquisition of all their 
cherished hopes over again, without the attending 
vicissitudes and hardships of that period. 

After having crossed the Colorado Kiver at Ehren- 
berg, and going east, information comes to you thick 
and fast of the future prospects of this section, and of 
the very nattering one of the region round about Pres 
cott. You hear of the " McCracken " mine which now, 
and in a space of only two years, has a fifty stamp mill 
on the grounds, extensive tunnels, with shafts down 



132 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

fifty to seventy five feet, and producing one hundred 
thousand dollars per month. Leaving the McCrncken 
mine and the Hope district to the northwest, you are 
approaching the Hassayampa district near Prescott, 
where it is said genuine black metal is reached at a 
depth of seven feet. This region of rich silver de- 
posit near Prescott, is the second in the vast mineral 
belt extending from the extreme southeast corner, to 
the northwest corner of the Territory. Some distance 
before reaching Prescott, you pass the abandoned 
works of the famous "Vulture mines, in which aban- 
donment, is again re-echoed the too often repeated 
story of the attacks and murders by the Indians. 
This is the story with all like cases of abandonment of 
mines in the Territory, and they abound on every 
hand. The country is full of them, and invariably 
the Indians are the cause. 

The mines themselves never give out, it is said — a 
j^eculiar feature of the mines in Arizona and the south- 
west. This remark would seem to be substantiated 
in an opinion once given by Professor Ehrenberg, that 
there was a continuous range of gold bearing rock 
from the Vulture mine to a point ten miles north of 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 133 

Prescott, embracing an area of at least one thousand 
square miles. 

We are now in the region too, which promises to 
turn out its vast quantities of cinnabar ; and also in a 
region where the old pastimes of picking up nug- 
gets, threatens to draw those less willing to work or 
dig. To the southeast again, along this same con- 
tinued belt of rich mineral, over the Mazabyal range, 
you enter the "Globe" and " Pioneer" districts, to de- 
termine the richer of which, would puzzle the most 
careful and stoic calculator. In this district is the fa- 
mous " Stonewell Jackson " discovered by the great 
prospector McMillen. The history of this mine is 
well known, and is being perpetuated in the minds 
and memories of men as one of the leading events in 
the history of mines in the Territory. The mine was 
discovered in 1874, and shortly after the discoverer 
sold it for one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. 
No sooner had he sold it, than word renched his ears 
that the parties who purchased it would have given 
him two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, had it 
been necessary to obtain it ; and also, that others be- 
hind them again stood ready to give three hundred 
thousand dollars, rather than not obtain it. A shaft 



134 riCTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

in these mines, down only ninety feet gave ore run- 
ning as high as twenty four thousand dollars to the 
ton in '76. It is said that since the purchase, the 
mine has been estimated to be worth eight millions 
of dollars. 

At such events as these, having cast off diamonds, 
supposing them to be simply brilliant pebbles, many a 
man with a less courageous heart and a less liberal 
mind would have sunk under what they would have 
misconstrued as a reversion. But with the sturdy 
heart and the rapier judgment of a pioneer, it was not 
so with McMillen. He had "greater things in view " 
as he told me, when I afterwards made his acquain- 
tance, and was talking with him on the subject of his 
mines and prospects in Arizona. Said McMillen to 
me in his quaint way, but more practicable philosophy, 
"You see, Mr. Conklin, a thing in my estimation, has 
no real — no intrinsic value. It has only a com- 
parative one, and is governed entirely by the relative 
value of the things surrounding, or immediately asso- 
ciated with it. Weil ! but, by the way, don't you 

think so, my friend?" inquired this determined min- 
er interrupting himself. 

I saw at once the sharp, practical ability of this 




,/>tta>v. 



riCTURESQUE ARIZONA. 137 

mountaineer, and felt, as has often been my wont to 
feel when in contact witli some of the brilliant minds 
of our frontiersmen, that there was a comprehension 
of facts there that I myself might profit by ; and in 
my anxiety to grasp and retain the full meaning and 
force that lit up his penetrating e} 7 e as lie finished, I 
simply said : — 

''Yes, I think so." I was waiting: for some brilliant 
exposition of this man's experience, which I had so 
often got from the pioneers of our frontier country. 

" Well ! You see, 1 ' continued lie, "I had been rov- 
ing about this country and in these mountains ever 
since '55, when T struck this little affair up here that 
we are talking about. I had put my foot on several 
others and I'm keeping it there for a while" added he, 
with a twinkle in his eye, u I had put my foot on 
some others I say, and better ones. But I thought 
this little one would do to raise some money on to 
work the rest. You see I was broke — dead broke. 
Couldn't get trusted for an onion or a slice of bacon ; 
had to wash the only shirt I had to my name, and had 
to sit under a bush in the shade while the shirt was 
drying on top in the sun. I wanted money to devel- 
op and open up my other mines; and I would have 



138 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

taken — (here McMillen's band came down on his knee 
with a powerful thump) I would have taken half the 
amount I got, if I couldn't have got what I did. 
although I knew the mine itself was worth more." 

The whole course of operation and the politic man- 
ner and means of securing the success of such opera- 
tions, showed itself to me at once. I had now become 
interested in both the mines and the miner. 

" I suppose then, you are now opening up some of 
your new mines," said I. 

"Well, that depends upon what you call 'opening 
up.' We are just sending down fifty thousand dollars 
worth of machinery to commence on — my partner, 
Mr. Flournoy and myself. We are now at work on 
the ' Hannibal.'* This is an extension of the ' Stone- 
wall Jackson ' lode, and we expect to show the Stone- 
wall people that — well! that they might have got 
more for their money, if the Stonewall had extended 
along over the Hannibal." 

"But how many mines have you discovered in 
all? " inquired I. 

"Let me see " said he thoughtfully. " There is the 
'Stonewall Jackson ,' the 'Florence,' the ' Alenaden ' 

* The " Hannibal " is now one of the richest mines in Arizona. 



PICTURESQUE A.BIZONA. 141 

tlie ' Little Mac,' the 'Leo,' the ' 220' and, last but not 
least, the 'Hannibal.' Oli ! Yes, there is another 
one, the ' First N. E. Extension to the Hannibal' — 
eight in all. There are a few others, but I don't re- 
call them at present." 

The perseverance, indomitable pluck and persis- 
tency of these two men, are fairtypesoi what Arizona 
wants for her development; and in both their faces 
may be detected force of character, and that power of 
will that can " remove mountains," as well as the gold 
and silver that is in them. Mr. Flournoy is a native 
of Georgia and is a man whose popularity in Arizona 
is making liini a fast and sure exponent of the devel- 
opment of that Territory. His sterling integrity has 
become proverbial. With Mr. McMillen's indefatiga- 
ble ability as an original and successful prospector, 
and Mi - . Floumoy's qualifications for disciplining and 
working a mine, a complete success is insured. 

Southeast again, into the Santa Kit.is, and the Oro 
Blanco, districts we Strike the " last but not least" of 
the mines of this great natural metalliferous be] t, which 
lies within the boundary of Arizona. We say "last 
out not teast," and support our claim with substantial 
evidence; for in a continuous course of tliesc moun- 



142 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

tains over the boundary line, and into Sonora, you 
have what is, and has long been known as the greatest 
silver bearing country on the North American Conti- 
nent. In this section, a little to the east of the Santa 
Cruz valley, is the famous placer mines, long known 
to exist, in and around the Baboguivari Mountains. 
These stories are brought to us with the name of Col. 
J. D. Graham, another of Arizona's matchless pioneers 
and prospectors. Colonel Graham was one of the first 
explorers and discoverers of this wild and rugged re- 
gion, and knows this country "by the inch," as a 
traveling companion once remarked to me, and as 
subsequent facts concerning the developments, in the 
whole southwest given in another chapter, will fully 
demonstrate. It is said that this bold and daring pio- 
neer, when only twenty-two years of age, traveled on 
horse-back from the interior of Mexico to Arizona 
and California on special missions of trust. I will 
refer to the results of this man's accomplishments in 
a separate chapter devoted to ^ne opening up and 
wonderful developments of the southwest and its 
mines. The progress Arizona has made within the 
past few years, may be realized to some extent, by the 
fact that in 1877, she yielded up over four millions of 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 143 

dollars in gold and silver. As a substantial defense 
for Arizona and her mines, the American Cyclopedia 
comes forth and says : — 

"No one of the mineral bearing Territories of the 
Pacific slope is richer than Arizona, though the mines 
have not been generally worked." 

Like stories, we have said confront the traveler on 
every hand in Arizona; and the most of them are sub- 
stantiated upon better acquaintance. Not only in re- 
lation to gold and silver are they confined ; but minerals 
of most all known usefulness are being discovered. 
Many such cases lie dormant for means of transporta- 
tion. With the introduction of the steam car and rail, 
a great " blockade" will be raised, and Arizona will 
flood the world with its riches. Our " Emma" mines 
will never rise to the surface again, and our "Crown 
Points" and " Consolidated Virginias " will sink much 
below. Even now it is a noted fact that mines which 
would receive much attention further north, ate al- 
lowed to lie undisturbed here. Copper enough exists 
in the mountain in the eastern part of the Territory, 
to cause one man alone to say that if he had railroad 
facilities, he would employ one thousand men in his 
mine. This is in the southeastern part of Yavapai 



144 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 



County. In another section evidences of tin are re- 
ported. Tin has never been discovered within the 
limits of the United States ; but it is of such importance 
that the government has offered a large reward to the 
discoverer of it. The probabilities for Arizona being 
the favored field are not without good foundation. 
South , in Sonora Count y, Mexico, tin has already been 
discovered in good paying quantities, but. like many 
good mineral products in this vastly rich location, 
they are allowed to lie dormant for want of sufficient 
energy in the people, or protection from their govern- 
ment, to work them. The species here found consists 
of both nugget and stream tin. I have several speci- 
mens of botli of these, presented me by the Geologist, 
Prof. Cummings Cherry, of Chicago, who "has always 
been largely interested in, and an enthusiast over the 
richness of this whole section. Now ! Sonora County, 
Mexico, borders on Arizona ; and this explains why 
we can, with considerable reason, hope that Arizona 
will give our country this long-coveted possesion. 

These are the incentives — these are the allurers — 
these are the encouraging influences that take men 
from their homes and make them dare their happiness, 
their homes, their lives, their all, and too often for the 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 145 

after good of others. But so it is. So, does nature 
again cunningly assert herself and say, " 'tis better to 
give than to receive," when a sturdy, honest pioneer 
discovers a rich bonanza, holds it awhile from the rav- 
ages of the Indians, is finally murdered, and one of 
his less bold and daring brothers comes and reaps the 
reward. Many a remnant of a mining camp will tell 
the same story. But the American is indefatigable. 
Many may be slain, but as many more will rise to fill 
their places; and again that theory identified: that 
man does inevitably follow and profit by his fellows' 
toil, and that we were made to serve each other. Sym- 
pathy rarely finds its vent for the hardy pioneer and 
frontiers-man, or at best, ne'er gives the sympathy due. 

There are some, however, who have escaped, to reap 
their own harvest, and to tell of their vicissitudes. 
From these we can better get some of the more fla- 
grant causes for the failure of those who do not live 
to tell their own. 

In a previous chapter we had occasion by dint of 
narrative, to simply refer to the " Stonewall Jackson " 
Mine and the richness of the McMillen Mining Dis- 
trict. These narratives of golden fleece and shining 
nuggets being so rife in Arizona, entertaining the 



140 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

traveler on any and every trip or route he may pro- 
pose or select, one can scarcely avoid asking the ques- 
tion why, if all these stories are true concerning the 
mines of Arizona, and their richness, they have not 
already been worked. I have been asked these ques- 
tions myself over and over again ; and after narrating 
what I saw, and having converted by actual knowl- 
edge, those fairy-like stories into absolute existences 
concerning the fabulous wealth of her mines, I would 
here offer a defence f. >r Arizona, for the seeming lack 
in her mining developments. 

To those who would ask the question, I would o.Tset 
their interrogative by asking them why the unsur- 
mountable conditions and the natural force of circum- 
stances had not long ago been abolished, and Arizona 
as per se been born a favored child from all the stub- 
orn ills of life. It is wished it could have been so. 
But rather than this, she has had more than her share 
to contend with. 

Arizona was the last acquired, and of all our Ter- 
litorial lands, situated to the further end of our na- 
tional domain ; until at present she was off the beaten 
track of our Country's physical progress, and conse- 
quently, the hardest to guard and protect, bordering a 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 147 

country proverbially noted for its conquests, revolutions 
and the ungovernable traits of its rapacious subjects; 
filled with one of the fiercest and most warlike tribes 
of America's aborigines ; and a victim to the most un- 
relenting force of circumstances of perhaps any other 
portion of our country. It is a marvel that the Terri- 
tory shows the progress it does. 

The Apaches, the most powerful and war-like tribe 
of Indians that the government has perhaps ever had to 
bring its forces against. Ever since 1853, have we 
been more or less afficted with them, for as early as 
that had the American pluck found its way into that 
rich seclusion of the Sonora country. In that }^ear 
and with the purchase of our last acquisition to the 
Territory we also got, in the bargain, or as a legacy, 
a powerful tribe of wild, ferocious, unsubdued Indians, 
whose daily life consisted in hunting after, killing or 
torturing all human victims not of their own kind or 
kin. They had been at this since the time of the 
Spanish conquest, and had excelled. They had suc- 
cessfully repelled Mexico after her independence and 
until our purchase in 1853. Since then they have, 
we might say, fought us successfully also. It would 
have been money in our pockets, if after the pur- 



148 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

chase, we had turned around and offered the Mex- 
icans the price of the whole purchase over again 
to have taken their munificent legaoy back, if this 
could have been done. One after another however, 
of our brave and indomitable men and women have 
pushed out into this open country with somewhat the 
spirit of '76, and one after another have they been 
slain. Some striking narratives told me recently by 
Governor A. P. K. Saflford of Arizona, are graphically 
descriptive of the times and conditions of which I 
speak, and I will here give them in substance. 

I would call attention to the philosophical manner 
with which a practical man with a practical knowledge 
of the thing dealt with, deals with this Indian ques- 
tion. Stern, yet unbiased and fair, Gov. Safford has 
accomplished more practical results with the Indian, 
than perhaps any other man. 



CHAPTER X 



NARRATIVES OF EARLY ARIZONA — BLOODY DEEDS AND THE 
APACHES — ESKIMENZEN — COCHISE — WITCHCRAFT — HAB- 
ITS OF LIFE— REFORM — WHO IS TO BLAME ? 



[A large portion ot this chapter is from pergonal narratives kindly tendered 
me by Ex-Gov. A. I\ K. Safford, of Arizona.) 



AN estimable lady who was a near neighbor to the 
Governor in Arizona was taken captive by the 
Apaches together with a young Spanish girl who was 
living with her. The Indians came to the house while 
the men were absent On leaving the house, the 
Indians traveled rapidly, as they knew quite well they 
would be pursued. Toward, the close of the first days 
travel, the Indians became satisfied that the woman 
could not travel with them. She had struggled with 
all her might to give them no trouble, knowing that 
her life depended upon it An old man walked beside 
her most of the day, who could speak Spanish. He 
talked constantly of the wrongs they had suffered 
from the whites. 

She told him if they had been wronged that she 



150 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

was not responsible. "But," said the old man, " you 
are a race of villians. Your tongues are forked. My 
people were once a powerful tribe and owned all this 
country. Now we are compelled to hide like the 
coyotes. Our people have been murdered. Our coun- 
try has been taken from us, and I hate you all." Dur- 
ing the day she had been allowed to travej behind; 
but towards evening several savages dropped behind, 
and without a moment's warning, several spears were 
plunged into her body, and she was thrown down a 
bank for dead. She laid where she was thrown for 
several hours unconscious ; but during the night she 
heard voices, and among them recognized her hus- 
band's. Being so weak, however, irom loss of blood 
she could not speak nor move, and they passed on in 
pursuit of the Indians, not knowing that they had 
passed within a few feet of her. The next day she 
recovered sufficient strength, and commenced to crawl 
towards home, she was sixteen days crawling back, 
with nothing to eat, save the roots and leaves that she 
gathered on the way. She had been pierced with six- 
teen spears, three of which had entered the cavity of 
the body, but to-day she is alive and well. Failing to 
overtake the Indians, negotiations were opened to 
ransom them. The little girl was brought to the place 
designated and ransomed for gold. But the woman 
was reported dead and you can imagine the agreeable 




BEADY FOR A SCALP. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA lu3 

surprise when she returned. At first, however, they 
believed she was a spirit; and it required some time 
before she could convince them that she was flesh and 
blood. A few months later her husband, father, and 
three brothers were murdered, and she was left alone, 
but subsequently married an excellent man, and a 
happier, or better family, cannot be found. 

Another case is told of a family who lived a few 
miles from the capital of the Territory. The husband 
was a member of the Legislature. While engaged 
making laws, the Indians made an attack upon his 
house. His wife and a hired man determined to sell 
their lives as dearly as possible, and as the savages 
approached near the house, the good wife discharged 
her trusty rifle and at each discharge, a savage " bit 
the dust" Finally, the ammunition began to get 
short. She sent the hired man with a letter to her 
husband, saying, " John, the Indians are here. Send 
me plenty of powder and lead. Don't neglect your 
duties by coming home, for I am master of the situa- 
tion, and can hold the house. 

In another place there was a husband and wife, a 
little child, and several hired men. The house had 
been attacked when only the woman and an old man 
were at home ; but the woman stood with rifle in hand, 
and defended the house until her husband and a few 
men came to her relief. Her husband begged the 



154 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

Governor to take her to a more secure place, which lie 
would have gladly done. But when he mentioned it 
to her, she grew pale and said, " Do not, I pray yon, 
mention this to me again. I can watch for the sav- 
ages, and give him warning of their coming. If they 
come I can assist to repel them. And if he must die, 
I can die with him." This brave little woman and 
her husband are still alive, prosperous and happy, I 
understand. 

"We will narrate one more case, where a farmer was 
tilling the soil some distance from his house. The 
Indians had attacked and killed most of the people in 
the settlements nearest to him but he was unconscious 
of the fact. The Governor went to warn him of his 
danger, and urged him to abandon his farm. He 
said he could not ; that his wife and children would 
suffer for bread if he did not gather his grain. The 
Governor urged him to leave. Before the week passed 
the Indians came, they swarmed upon him witli their 
spears, expecting to obtain an easy victim, but he 
turned upon them with his repeating rifle, and the 
first, second, and third, fell a lifeless corpse, when the 
others ran. He continued his fire upon them, and 
before they got out of the range of his gun, four more 
were sent to the " happy hunting ground/' Unfortu- 
nately, however, a random shot from the retreating 






PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 155 

Indians crushed his ankle and made him a cripple for 
life. 

Who are the beings that perpetrated these atroc- 
ities? 

I have only attempted to give a few of the scenes 
encountered in the settlement of Arizona. I will now 
mention briefly the Indians who were the actors in these 
bloody tragedies. The Apaches are of medium size, 
physically quick and active, and are capable of endur- 
ing great hardships. Their muscles of locomotion 
have peen developed to the fullest extent, and they 
are capable of moving with great rapidity. When 
making raids no horse can overtake or keep up with 
them. 

Intellectually they are very shrewd, have good com- 
mand of language, are quite witty and fond of joking. 

Governor Safford was present at the first attempt to 
make a general peace between them, and the whites, 
and the friendly Indians. The Conference lasted two 
days ; and the chiefs wdio spoke for the Indians ar- 
gued their points with great ingenuity, and, far ex- 
celled in shrewdness the tame Indians. One of the 
most vexatious things we had to deal with on that oc- 
casion was the case of some captive Apache children 
that had been taken by the whites, and given to differ- 
ent families in the country. The Indians demanded, 
as one of the conditions, that these children should be 



15G PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

brought in and. given up to them. The children had 
been with the whites so long that they had forgotten 
their parents, and had as much affection for their 
adopted parents as though they had been their natural 
offsprings; and the adopted parents reciprocated the 
feeling. It was a heartrending separation. The chil- 
dren clung to their adopted parents with deathlike 
tenacity ; and to tear them from weeping women and 
turn them over to naked Savages was a scene, as the 
Governor said, he hoped never again to witness. We 
tried in every way to compromise with them, and save 
the children. We offered them money, horses, any- 
thing they might covet. But they replied; "Do you 
think we are dogs, and would sell our own children ? 

The principal spokesman upon that occasion, and 
who is now chief of the Apaches, is named Eski- 
menzen. I shall never forget with what pride and 
pomp he rode down to the place of meeting on his no- 
ble charger, with his favorite squaw seated behind 
him. He was then about thirty five years old ; tall 
and straight, and moved with the dignity and inde- 
pendence of a king. 

As he sprang from his horse he gave the reins to 
his wife. She was young, and very pretty for one of 
her race; and looked with pride and admiration upon 
her liege lord. All day long she remained seated 
upon the horse intent upon hearing every word that 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 157 

escaped from her husband. Eskimenzen was bold, de- 
fiant, and unreconstructed. He was a wild man, filled 
with hatred and suspicion of the white man. |4 I had 
grave doubts about the peace enduring," said the 
Governor, "and it was not long before my doubts were 
realized." The Indians were subsequently however, 
very roughly handled, and afterwards sued for peace 
in good faith. They are now living quietly and 
peacably on a reservation. The Governor said, "I 
have been much interested in the great change in ac- 
tion and feeling that has been made in these Indians. 
I have often talked with great freedom with Eskimen- 
zen. Not long ago he said to me, ''you can hardly 
imagine what an erroneous opinion I had of the white 
people before I became well acquainted with you. I 
supposed that no other condition could exist between us 
except war. As far back as legend carried us we had 
been at war with every one with whom we came in 
contact, and I supposed that must go on, until one or 
the other race was exterminated. But now I see there 
are good and bad among the whites, as well as among 
the Indians, and that many of you desire to help us, 
and want to see us prosperous and happj\ I see that 
your ways are better than our ways for 3-ou lay up 
something ahead and never have to go hungry as we 
often did. I am getting old, and I am past the time 
to make much improvement, but I want my children 



158 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

to grow up like white children, and learn to work and 
read and write." 

Thus it will be seen that our misunderstandings, 
quarrels and fights, whether with our own people or 
the rude savages, are mainly brought about by not 
knowing and understanding each other. These wild 
men fought us cruelly, savagely, unrelentingly. But 
from their stand-point they believed that they were 
doing right, and that we were all wrong. At this 
time when Eskimenzen broke the peace, the first man 
he killed was his friend who had been very kind to 
him. I afterwards asked him why he killed his 
friend, and he replied that he wanted to break the 
peace ; that any coward could kill an enemy, but it 
took a brave man to kill a friend. 

Cochise was the greatest war chief the Apaches ever 
had. He never was whipped in a fight, and was 
a natural born chief. He was kind to his men, and 
never tasted food until they were first supplied. But 
he exacted in return, implicit obedience to his com- 
mands, and a very slight deviation cost the offender 
his life. He had no more hesitation in plunging his 
spear through the heart of one of his own men, than 
in killing an enemy in battle. I met him once and 
spent one day with him at his camp in the mountains. 
He gave me a history of his wrongs ; and although he 
had been the cause of killing more white men, than 




AN APACHE CHIEF. 




AN APACHE SQUAW AND PAPPOOSE. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 163 

any other chief or Indian, and had been cruel beyond 
discription in his tortures, I could not help but feel 
that lie had been deeply wronged ; and, that from the 
light given him, and the law and morals upon which 
he had been educated, he had acted conscientiously, 
and had done what he believed to be right. He was a 
man of great energy, of superior ability and firmness 
of purpose, and was generally faithful to his promises, 
lie was tall, straight and commanding in appearance, 
and his features were regular with a placid, though 
rather sad countenance. He rarely ever smiled, and 
was thoughtful and studied in all his expressions. 
I talked to him of the superior advantages of civiliza- 
tion, but he replied, " I am too old to adopt new cus- 
toms." He had captives with him who could speak 
and read the Spanish language, and he was well ad- 
vised of everything tlie newspapers said about him. 
He expressed a desire that his children should learn to 
read and write, " but of us old people " he said ; " you 
can make nothing of us but wild men." He died a 
natural death three years ago. During the last three 
years of his life he and his people lived at peace with 
the citizens of Arizona, but carried on a relentless war 
against the Mexicans across the frontier. I tried to 
persuade him to cease this warfare, as it was liable to 
involve him and the people of Arizona in difficulty. 
But his eyes flashed fire with indignation at the men- 



164 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

tion of making pence with tlie Mexican people; and 
lie said ; " while life is spared me, I will never cease to 
hate and kill that infamous people. I know their 
treachery to my sorrow. I once placed confidence 
in them only to be betrayed. Many years ago I 
became tired of war, and made peace with them. 
I crossed the line and settled in their Country, 
and everything seemed harmonious and lovely. After 
we had remained there a few months and all passed on 
pleasantly, the Mexican authorities proposed to get up 
a grand barbacue to celebrate the era of love aud good 
will. All the Indians and vast numbers of Mexicans 
came together and hundreds of cattle were slaughtered 
for the occasion. Liquor was freely given which re- 
sulted in the intoxication of many of my bravest and 
best soldiers. When they were in this helpless condi- 
tion, an indiscriminate massacre was commenced, of my 
braves, women and children. By this treachery we 
lost a large number of our people, but I with some of 
my followers, were spared ; and since that time we 
have done what we could to revenge that terrible 
wrong. Tf we have been cruel, then they set the 
example to us. That they have greatly suffered at 
our hands I know full well. They now cry for peace, 
but there can be no peace between us." 

Since the Apache Indians have been brought on the 
reservation, and have become tame, and acquainted 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 165 

with civilization, they have undergone a great change, 
and appear like a different people. They have com- 
menced to labor, and seem desirous, many of them, to 
earn their own living. They have accumulated some 
property } and it would now be difficult to drive a 
large majority of them on the war path. They have 
for several years been self-governing; the police du- 
ties have been entirely performed by men belonging 
to the tribe, and these policemen have in every in- 
stance been vigilant and true. In one instance an 
Indian attempted to kill the U. S. Agent at the reser- 
vation, but was almost instantly killed himself by his 
brother, who was acting as a policeman. All the 
Indians that I have ever met are superstitious, and are 
firm believers in witchcraft. A witch is considered a 
very great criminal, or rather, an unclean and danger- 
ous spirit and not lit to live. Many are killed for 
this grave offence. The victims are almost invariably 
women, and generally aged. Death, pestilence, or any 
great calamity is usually charged to the influence of 
witches, who have to pay the penalty by death. 
Their doctors practice their profession by sorcery. 
They chant songs and go through with all manner of 
mysterious manoeuvres. If the patient gets well, the 
cure is conceded to the doctor. But if he is unsuc- 
cessful in his practice, and cannot prove that his ill 
success is attributable to the interference of witches, 



160 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

he often pays the penalty by death. Last Spring, the 
Governor took a scouting party of Indians into Mexico. 
One' of them had a felon on his finger. I applied the 
usual remedies, but the night before it broke lie lost 
all faith in my skill. He called in the Indian doctor, 
and the night was spent in chanting. In the morning 
the sore broke. The patient was relieved, and the 
Indian doctor received full credit for performing the 
cure. By Indian custom the woman is the property 
of the man. When an Indian desires to marry, he 
purchases his wife from the father. A man is allowed 
as many wifes as he is able to purchase. She is thus 
his property to do with as he pleases. He can beat 
her at will, and even kill her if he so inclines. Of 
course she is treated according to the disposition of 
the husband. Some are kind and indulgent while 
others are brutal and cruel. There is nothing in In- 
dian custom to which they cling with more tenacity 
than this supreme power over their wives ; and no 
Indian, however unjust or cruel another may be, ever 
thinks of interfering to protect her; and the senti- 
ment of a whole tribe has often been united against 
the efforts of agents who have tried to correct these 
abuses. Infidelity on the part of the women among 
the Apaches is usually punished by cutting off their 
noses. I have seen many thus mutilated. These 
customs seem very strange to us ; but it must be 






PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 167 

borne in mind that within the history of oar own 
country, with all the advantages of books and educa- 
tion, many people have been by our laws executed for 
witchcraft. The subject of man's superiority and 
power to rule and control women too, has only van- 
ished as we have advanced in civilization ; and there 
yet remains many abuses to correct before we place 
women on that high plain which God designed they 
should occupy. While we may deeply regret the 
benighted condition of the red man, we must bear in 
mind that they are unlettered, and have never received 
the light and elevated influence of the Christian re- 
ligion. 

But we might run on in this strain until our powers 
of speech were exhausted, and then leave much be- 
hind. This is but one chapter. A thousand might 
be written. When we had first learned of the wealth 
that lies hidden within the folds of Arizona, we might 
think it was neglect on the people's part, and ask the 
question, why has it not been worked? But when 
we learn of its history and former conditions, as ex- 
plained in this chapter, any stigma is cast aside, and 
we forget the past, in our eagerness to grasp the bril- 
liant present and future. 



CHAPTER XL 

EHRENBERG — A LONELY "VILLAGE OF THE PLAIN " — PAINFUL 
THOUGHTS — CORONATION PEAK — THE GODDESS OF THE 
VALLEY — NO ENDOWMENT POLICY — INTEREST, CONTRAST, 
AND BEAUTY — TO THE LAND OF HEMP, COTTON AND RICE. 

FOR some distance back from the Colorado River, 
to the east, and on the California side, there is a 
dense cluster of willows, greasewood and timber of 
smaller growth, which lines the banks of this whimsi- 
cal stream. On the opposite or Arizona side of the 
river, yon greet the town of Ehrenberg — a unique set- 
tlement to those not accustomed to Mexican huts. 
On the occasion of my arrival there, hosts of Indians 
were down to push the boat off the shore after the 
stage had driven upon it. One front of a row of low 
flat adobe structures, constitute the material town ; 
with a population of five hundred Indians, Mexicans, 
and a general mixture of a little of everything else — 
the Indians predominating. Breakfast taken here 
again, we pushed on. From the river, evidences of 



:| " ,;: ! |i;! 'li'i 'I^Ki'lS*™ 




PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 171 

fertile soil began to show itself in the constantly in- 
creasing growths noticed as we progressed. 

Desert riding at its worst, in our country, lias only 
an ideal in the minds of the many. Many people of 
course, have suffered and died on these very deserts, 
the result being attributed to the desert, but in reality 
the desert is not wholly the cause. Ignorant of the 
nature of their trip many an emigrant has started out 
without water sufficient to carry him but a very few 
miles, or having carried perhaps water enougli for his 
journey, but not being acquainted with, and having 
no one to direct him in his right course., he has wan- 
dered and strayed indefinitely at his own risk and 
peril. We would not recommend any one to attempt 
uncertain courses, out of beaten tracks. Arizona is 
not civilized enough to trust to meeting of fellow trav- 
elers for guidance, and the natural causes of delusion 
in distance and direction ; the beautiful but deceptive 
mirage, and the effect of unaccustomed altitudes, all 
make it dangerous for those not to some extent ac- 
quainted with causes or with the country, to trust 
themselves to their ordinary common sense. 

Apart from the beauties which actually do lie in 
these deserts (so called) the interest all seem to find 
in them, is noticeable. They are interesting. The 
diversity of our desert lands is very broken, both as 
regards safety and beauty. One may have the beau- 



172 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

ties here, without the necessary perils. Imagine riding 
over a sandy desert mesa, and all the horrible visions 
of skeletons and starvation, and reptile bites, choking 
from thirst and the like, forcing themselves upon you 
until nerves are unwittingly wrought to the highest 
pitch of terror; and then by a sudden reversion of 
the mind, you realize that a canteen of water which 
is at your side, is ample to support you from one 
station to another. On our trip from Yuma to the 
Santa Rita Mountains these effects were pleasingly 
realized. With one of our feet on a box filled with 
canned oysters, and the other on a case of jelly, while 
our eyes fell upon a choice quarter of fresh lamb or a 
heap of quail which some of the party had shot on the 
way. On one occasion we passed a few bones scat- 
tered on the sand a short distance from the road. Our 
driver informed us that they were the remains of a par- 
ty of two men, a woman and child, who attempted to 
cross over certain mesas and plains to reach Phoenix 
without going on the round-about road to Wickenburg 
first, and so on down to Phoenix. They lost their 
way; and getting out of water (which would have 
lasted them until they reached Wickenburg had they 
gone the accustomed way) perished. 

Thirty miles inland from the Colorada River, and 
the Gila valley showed unmistakable signs of the 
richest fertility. Galetta, Gramma, Sacaton, and other 



Iti^S^. 




A MOJATE iroiAlf A5T> BOX AT EHKESKEBG. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA 175 

grasses, together with the more ponderous and harder 
growths of the mesquite, and palo-verde trees, could 
but suggest a rich soil. Dr. Allen, the well-known 
geologist, upon examining the soil on one occasion, 
gave it as his opinion, that in a very large majority of 
cases that which seemed to condemn the lands here as 
desert, was simply an over crust of a salt formation 
that rather enriched the ground than otherwise, and 
that the other sub-soil was a rich loam upon which all 
products of a semi-tropical (and in many cases of a 
tropical clime) would excel in production. 

Forty miles from Yuma, east from the banks of the 
Gila River, we had a gorgeous sight of the object 
known as the Coronation Peak. Our party all dis- 
mounted here, to roll and stretch their limbs on the 
lawn-like meadows that line the river's edge, and to 
catch the inspiration which this peak throws out to all 
who will seek her society. There is a spirit in her 
that speaks to every human soul. The name is de- 
rived from the resemblance the top of the peak has to 
a crown. The tip aspiring heavenward, and playing 
with the brilliant tints of the clouds, contrasts beauti- 
fully with the blue waters of the Gila at the base. 
The " shades of evening" cast over here, with robes of 
crimson and purple, made poets of us all. I was a 
poet while I lay sprawling on the ground in the pres- 
ence of this goddess of the valley. But the trouble is, 



176 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

I lost the gift of poesy when I parted with her. She 
doesn't believe in the endowment policy. She has 
no regard for those who wont stay with her alway. 
The scenery of Arizona is marked. Her features are 
peculiar to herself. One does not here see the "El 
Capitan" nor hear the clashing waters of the Niagara. 
But at neither Niagara nor in the Yosemite do we see 
the mirage, nor do we see it anywhere on the earth, 
perhaps, except in the famous Fatamorgana of Italy. 
The artist may get his subject in the mountains of 
California or in the rocky mountains ; but for his 
light and shade, let him go to Arizona. In' the trip 
of which lam in part giving a narrative, several of the 
members often alluded to the fact that if this or that 
effect were to be truly pictured on canvass the observ- 
er would say that it was " forced " — exagerated. Ari- 
zona's interest, next to her great mineral wealth, con 
sists in her contrasts. Contrasts beget beauty ; and 
interest in a thing makes that beauty lasting. We have 
known of many a pretty face, that lacking interest, 
has lost its charm in a -very short time ; while we 
have known of many a homely face whose interest has 
captivated man for a whole life time. Whereas for 
general and prolific productiveness, the more southerly 
part of Arizona may perhaps excel ; the more wonder- 
ful phenomena must be accredited to the northern por- 
tion. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 179 

Traveling up the Gila Kiver there is a very pretty 
series of mountains and valleys, the mountains hem- 
ming the valleys in. But }'Ou travel and travel and 
travel without ever meeting with any obstruction. 
You continue in one broad, extensive valley unto the 
end of your journey. For a distance of two hundred 
and fifty to three hundred miles this unbroken stretch 
of rich farming land urges the husbandman to share 
its virtues and merits. As you journey eastward, 
signs of agriculture increase rapidly until, arriving in 
the neighborhood of Florence, which is in a direct line 
east from Yuma, and about one hundred and fifty to 
two hundred miles from it, the country assumes a 
charming and cheerful aspect. Professor Wheeler 
estimated in his reports of Arizona, that, under irriga- 
tion, thirty-seven per cent, of the lands of Arizona could 
be made agricultural, and sixty per cent, pastoral. Eice, 
hemp, cotton, wild poppy, and opium flourish in the 
southern portions of the State, while to the east, in the 
Yiego and other of the many rich valleys which lie 
between the isolated and broken mountain ranges so 
common in Arizona and the southwest, the cereals 
thrive wonderfully. Our observations all through the 
Gila valley forcibly showed this large extent as graz- 
ing lands. In some cases even the mesas may be used 
for pasturage. 

Beyond the station at Maricopa Wells, is located the 



180 TICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

Pima Indian Villages. In all the distance from here 
to Florence may be seen crops of corn, grain and the 
smaller vegetables, cultivated by the Indians. The 
Pimas are notable for their industry. With the Indian, 
has always been associated the idea of a people identi- 
fied only with scalping knives, tomahawks, and a for- 
midable display of feathers and fantastically orna- 
mented robes of skins for clothing. But the word In- 
dian has as wide a range of signification as 
to say white man. To say white man may mean 
a Grecian, an American or Mexican ; an intel- 
ligent man, an industrious man, or a lazy good- 
-for-nothing who may scarcely be worth any thing, 
be he either white or black. This is about the 
significance one should get of the present term Indian. 
There are as great differences to be comprehended in 
the one term as in the other. Comparisons between 
the different tribes will show this. Not only either, 
does this show itself among different nations, so to 
speak, or locations alone, but between the tribes of 
one section of the country. Nowhere, in my experi- 
ence in Indian countries, are these facts more thor- 
oughly demonstrated than in the southwest of our 
country — including the different classes known under 
the head of "The Indian." 



CHAPTEE XII. 

ANTELOPE PEAK— A NIGHT'S COMPANION — ;< LONE PEAKS"— 
A GOLD STORY— OATMAN'S FLAT— FREIGHT TRAINS OF THE 
DESERT— " PEDROS PINTADOS." 

THE second night out brought us to "Antelope 
Peak," a famous camping spot, and so named 
from a high, towering peak jutting up from the ground 
in magnificent and haughty style, and shrowding you 
and the camp grounds surrounding, with its casting 
shadows. An adobe building for the stage company's 
office, and a corral for the protection and care of the 
horses, and the graceful flow of the Gila River o'er- 
shadowed by the towering "Antelope," constitute the 
main attraction for the camper. It is a very refresh- 
ing and cooling retreat for the traveler, who has had 
just enough of the sand and sun of Arizona by this 
time, to appreciate and enjoy it. This peak, instead of 
being called a peak, having the features of so much of 
the Arizona mountain sceneiw, would be better com- 
prehended by being termed an Isolated Mountain ; jut- 
ting, as it does from the very level of the plains, and 
throwing itself grandly up to a height of hundreds of 



182 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

feet into one single conical shaped formation. There 
are several of these entertaining fellows over the plains 
of the Territory relieving the eye of monotony, and 
without which the deserts and the traveler on them, 
would yearn for some society. Their extreme contrast 
with the surroundings, exalting -them to a glorious 
standard. One of the most bold and pleasing of these 
peaks is to be seen on Stewart k Pearson's stage road 
from Ehrenberg to Prescott. After riding for miles 
and hours over the broad sandy plains, with the 
distant mountains forming a pleasing enclosure to 
a vast natural stage upon which many a weird and 
midnight scene has been enacted, to come boldly 
upon these two lone peaks (there are two of them) 
standing side by side, is a scene worth the whole ride. 
As the stage passes by close to their base, they look 
down frowningly upon you ; and were you supersti- 
tious, would almost think they spoke to you in the 
starry stillness of the night. 

The occasion on which I first saw these peaks was 
in the middle of the night. It was a bright moon- 
light one, and the hazy light of the moon from behind, 
tli rowing the shadow far over our stage coach, pro- 
duced a sombre effect. I was seated on top of the 
coach alongside the driver, and strapped on to prevent 
me from falling off by the sudden jolts in passing over 
the gulches where the miners had been to work, and 




"LONE PEAKS," ON THE ROAD FROM EHRENBE..G TJ PRESCOTT. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 185 

so that I miglit sleep and nod to my heart's content 
without being dashed beneath the wheels. I had 
fallen asleep as my driver could assert to this day, be- 
cause he had tried his best to keep me awake for some 
one to talk to. In passing over a small stream which 
runs close by the peaks, the thump of the wagon fairly 
forced my eyelids apart; and, beholding these two 
giant figures o'er-spreading me as it seemed, 1 was held 
with awe for a few minutes, and then said to the dri- 
ver, " What are these ? " at the same time holding my 
face up at right angles to see the top. 

" Oh ! those ? " said he, in a quiet unconcerned 
voice, — "Oh ! those are stones that grow here in Ari- 
zona.," I named the peaks "Lone Peaks,'' as agree- 
able to the circumstances and conditions, as well as 
the sentiments of both myself and my friend the 
driver. 

In regard to my waking up by the jolt oi the wagon, 
I am not sure to this day whether it was the jolt of the 
coach, or due to some mechanical or other contrivance of 
the driver. These drivers do not like to have you go 
to sleep in the night while at their side. They want 
you to talk to. Besides, if there is going to be any 
Indian relays, or a meeting of any of the road 
"agents" who often come out part way to relieve 
the coach or the passengers of any extra money they 
may have on their persons, he wants you to see the 



186 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

modus operandi with which it is done. I do not know 
then, whether it was the thump, or a pin being poked 
into my leg, or a pinch that woke me up. And the 
driver will " never tell you." 

The Antelope peak of the Gila Peak of the 
Gila must not be conflicted with what is known 
as the Antelope Mountains seen on another part 
of Stewart & Pearson's stage route, which is some 
distance north of the Gila Eiver, where a man 
by the name of Poebles took out seven thousand 
dollars in placer gold one morning before break- 
fast, and during three weeks following, it is known, 
found eighty thousand dollars in gold nuggets. This 
is a California gold story of '49 over again, and verifies 
what we say elsewhere concerning the part of '49 be- 
ing again played, in Arizona. "We may emphatically, 
look for this. The era has already dawned. 

Urging our mules the next day we made a beautiful 
run of forty-six miles to a station known as Stamvix 
Hall, famous for its mud springs which, one of these 
days will be celebrated far and wide for their medi- 
cinal properties. In the morning we pass a station 
that reminds us that we are not too far away from 
home to be partiotic, by a flag hoisted in rude style 
over the corral and composed of three white stripes, 
two red stripes and two blue stripes and forty-five 
stars. We had seen flags larger, and we had seen 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 189 

flags less pretentious; but I don't think any of us 
ever took off our hats with a more hearty and vigo- 
rous "Three cheers ! " than did the Aztec party ; and 
we excused the presumption of the forty-five stars on 
the grounds that perhaps the inserter of them candidly 
thought Arizona was worth enougli in herself to make 
up the deficiency. That afternoon brought us to the 
sad and tragic landmark of the Oatman's Flat, where 
they have named the station after the victims of this 
tragedy, to keep perhaps, fresh in the memory of the 
white man the recollections of one the most atrocious 
massacres ever perpetrated by the Indians. 

This story is well known and has been often re- 
peated by many writers. We will simply quote a few 
of the more important features of the affair as graph- 
ically described by J. Ross Brown. Early in January, 
1851, Mr. Royse Oatman and his family entered that 
portion of the new Mexican Territory now called Ari- 
zona, in company with an emigrant party of which he 
was a member. * * * * * * * 
He had seen no hostile Indians, and had heard of no 
recent depredations on the way. * * * On 
the 18th of March, they spent a dreadful night on 
a little sand island in the Gila River. A terrific storm 
blew the water up over them ; their scanty supply of 
provisions was damaged, their blankets and clothing 
were wet through, and the starving animals driven 



190 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

nearly frantic with fear. It was a wild and desolate 
place, many days journey from any civilized abode. . 

It was starvation to stay, and 
almost inevitable disaster to go forward. Mrs. Oat- 
man, tlie noble wife and mother, always patient, hope- 
ful, and enduring, busied herself in attending to the 
wants of her children and in uttering words of encour- 
agement to her husband. He, however, seemed ut- 
terly overwhelmed with gloomy forebodings, and con- 
tinued to look back upon the road, till suddenly an 
expression of indescribable horror was observed in his 
face, and the next moment a band of Indians was seen 
leisurely approaching along the road. The children 
perceiving instinctively that their father — to whom 
they had always been accustomed to look for protec- 
tion — was agitated by no ordinary emotions, became 
alarmed ; but he succeeded by a strong effort in main- 
taining an appearance of composure, and told them 
not to be afraid, tliat the Indians would not hurt 
them. It was a favorite theory of his that misconduct 
on the part of the whites was the cause of all trouble 
with Indians, and that by treating them generously 
and kindly they would not prove ungrateful. Strange 
that one who had lived in frontier countries should so 
fatally misconstrue the character of that race ! 

When the Indians came up Mr. Oatman spoke to 
them kindly in Spanish, and motioned to them to sit 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 193 

down. They sat down, and asked for tobacco and 
pipes ; wliiclt lie gave them, and they smoked awhile 
in token of friendship. Then they asked for some- 
thing to eat. Mr. Oatman told them his family were 
nearly starving — that they had a long journey before 
them, and could ill spare any .portion of their scanty 
stock. However, he gave them a little bread, and 
said lie was sorry he could not give them more. 
After this they stood off a little and talked in a low 
tone, while Oatman set to work to re-load the wagon. 
It was observed that. the Indians looked anxiously 
down the road as if expecting some approaching party. 
Suddenly, with a terrific yeM, they jumped in the air, 
and dashed with uplifted clubs upon the doomed 
family. Lorenzo, a boy fourteen years of age, was 
struck on the head and felled to the earth the first 
blow. Several of the savages rushed upon Oatman, 
and he was seen for a moment struggling in their 
midst, but soon fell a mutilated corpse at their feet. 
Mrs. Oatman pressed her youngest child to her bosom, 
and struggled with a mother's heroic devotion to save 
it, shrieking in piercing accents, "Help! help! Oh, 
for the love of God, will nobody save us ! " A few 
blows of the murderous clubs quickly silenced the 
poor mother and her babe ; and in less than a minute 
the whole family, save Lorenzo, Olive, and Mary 
Anne, were lying dead or moaning in their death- 



194 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

struggles upon the ground. Olive, a girl sixteen years 
of age, and Mary Anne, a frail child of eleven, were 
dragged aside and held in the iron grasp of two In- 
dians. Lorenzo, the boy, was stunned by the crush- 
ing blows which had fallen upon his head, and lay 
bleeding by the edge of the precipice. In his narra- 
tive he states that he soon recovered his conscious- 
ness, and distinctly heard the yells of the Apaches, 
mingled with the shrieks and dying groans of his 
parents. The savages seeing him move, rifled his 
pockets and cast him over the precipice. Upon a 
careful examination of the spot — as shown to the 
right of the road in the accompanying sketch — I esti- 
mated that he must have fallen twenty feet before he 
struck the rocky slope of the mesa. That he was not 
instantly killed or maimed beyond recovery seems 
miraculous. Strange discordant sounds, he tells us, 
grated upon his ears, gradually dying away, and then 
he heard "strains of such sweet music as completely 
ravished his senses." ****** 
As soon as the Apaches had consummated the massa- 
cre of the Oatman family and plundered the wagon of its 
contents, they fled across the river, taking with them 
the two captives, Olive and Mary Anne. These un- 
fortunate girls had seen their parents, brothers, and 
sisters cruelly murdered, and were now dragged away, 
bare-headed and shoeless, through a rude and desolate 






PICTURESQUE RIZONA. 



195 



wilderness. Ferocious threats and even clubs were 
used to hurry them along. Their feet were lacerated, 
and tlieir scanty clothes were torn from their bodies 
in passing over the rocky mesas and through dense 
and thorny thickets. Sometimes the younger sister 
faltered from sheer lack of strength, but the savage 
wretches, unmindful of her sufferings, beat her and 
threatened to dispatch her at once if she lagged be- 
hind. She said it was useless to try any more — she 
might as well die at once; A brutal wretch of the 
tribe seized her as she sank to the ground, and casting 
her across his back started off on a trot. * 

* * Through the services of Fran- 

cisco, a Yuma Indian, the purchase of Olive from the 
Mojaves was effected by Mr. Grinnell, in February, 
185G. She was brought down to a place on the Colo- 
rado at an appointed time. Here Mr. Grinnel met 
her. She was sitting on the ground, as he described 
the scene to me, with her face covered by her hands. 
So completely was she disguised b} r long exposure to 
the sun, by paint, tattooing and costume, that he 
could not believe she was a white woman. When 
he spoke to her, she made no answer, but cried and 
kept her face covered. It was not for several days 
after her arrival at Fort Yuma that she could utter 
more than a few broken words of English. Subse- 
quently she met her brother, and was taken by him to 



19G PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 



Lis residence near Los Angeles. After that tlicv lived 



c~ 



°y 



awhile in Oregon. 

Since this account of the unfortunate girl was given, 
I learn she came to New York State, and afterwards 
died in an insane asylum. 

Surrounding the Oatman's Flat, is a very good 
specimen of the different peculiar formations of the 
mesas so common in Arizona. These mesas are the 
bug-bears, the temper-agitators, the malin-esprits of the 
desert to a class of people in Arizona vast in numbers, 
but more important than vast. These are the freight 
drivers of the plains. " Freighting on the plains,' is 
a term that arouses a deep interest to any one who 
has seen and contemplated it in all its bearings — 
vicissitudes and benefits alike. To see a freight team 
on the plains tugging up one of these mesas is a sight 
which would arouse the sympathies of any one at all 
sensitive to toils and pains. The wagons (shall we 
call them wagons?) will sometimes carry as high as 
seventy -five thousand pounds freight, and require any- 
where from ten to twenty mules ; which, in Arizona 
parlance means horses, mules, donkeys, and even in 
some cases oxen all harnessed together in one team. 
The effect is rather ludicrous at first sight ; but when 
we observe the " happy-family " instinct with which 
they assimilate, one begins to believe in the millen- 
ium, and is relieved of his grating spirit in the hopes 






PICTURESQUE AHiZONA, 197 

that this order of things will tend equally to leaven the 
many diverse conditions of Arizona society and hasten 
the assimilation of the Mexican, the Indian, the white 
man, the black man ; the murderous Apache and the 
indefatigable "road agent. On many occcaions seve- 
ral of these wagons (generally two or three) will be 
linked together, and a comparative force employed to 
haul them. And when the traveler meets, as he often 
will, with several of these combinations, making up 
one long train, it is a sight to behold. The drivers 
like those of the passenger stage coach, like company, 
and will strive to travel as many together as possible. 
The first intimation you have of the approach of 
these teams, is a cloud of dust in the distance, which, 
as you journey on assumes the proportion of a moun- 
tain. Then }^ou will see a black speck in the centre 
of it. This will disappear and reappear as rapidly 
again through the dense clouds of dust which are being 
as rapidly supplied by the stir of the animal's hoofs. 
Occasionally you will hear a deep smothered voice as 
if from the distance ; or from some enclosed place ; and 
during the continuance of the echo a vast number of 
intonations will be reflected by the rapidly increasing 
changes of dust clouds. You become interested in 
the coming spectacle. There is a spirit sent before it 
that tells you it is something a little different from any- 
thing you have seen before. Still nearer and nearer these 



198 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

dust clouds appear, until you can see the volumes of dust 
like volumes of smoke from a conflagration, roll and play 
about tlieir common victims, man and beast alike, as 
majestically as the clouds at the foot of some moun- 
tain range. Now the yells and shouts of the teamsters 
spurring their animals on under their weary load, will 
become more and more audible. Perhaps they will 
just be ascending some side of a steep mesa; in which 
case, if you happened to have got near enough by this 
time to distinguish the sound, you will hear the crack 
of their "snake," accompanied by vociferous yells. 
You will now, too, for the first time, be able to learn 
the cause of all this commotion. The yells become 
fiercer and louder, and the lash of the whip upon the 
struggling animals more frequent and forcible. Sounds 
too, which to a delicate ear will heighten the interest, 
if not elevate the spirit of a person, like hail stones in 
an April shower. The tinkle of bells fastened around 
the animals' necks soften like sweet sounding timbrels, 
the gushing, grating noise of the heavy laden wheels 
over the rocky mesa. After having reached the top 
of the mesa and crossed it, the descent on the other 
side to valley, plain, and desert, is wrought with the 
same uproarious commotion as the ascent had been be- 
fore. The load is equally as difficult to hold back now 
as it was to haul up. Some of these freight wagons 
carry at a time from seventy to seventy five thousand 




THE CONTINENT STEREOSCOPIC COMPANY'S 
ARTIST VIEWING IN ARIZONA. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA 201 

pounds of merchandise — from thirty to thirty -five 
tons. 

One of the leading features of interest to the trav- 
eler in this Mesa land is the system of pre-historic land- 
marks he is constantly coming in contact with on all 
sides. Man lias as yet,however, derived veiy little pos- 
itive knowledge of them from any research or investi- 
gation, and they remain to this clay a source of specu- 
lative interest to the traveler, from the time he leaves 
the Colorado, at Yuma or Ehrenberg, until he com- 
pletes his journey. It is in these features that Arizona 
presents herself as the land for the Archaeologist, the 
Psychologist, and all curious minds. Among the fore- 
most of these are the "Painted Rocks" (Pedras Pin- 
tados). 

About six miles from Oatman's Flat, on an extensive 
plain, encircled by the famous Arizona Mountains, is 
to be seen the largest and most perfect specimens of 
these Painted Rocks (Pedras Pintados). They are in 
the Gila valley one hundred and twenty miles from 
Tucson, Latitude, 33°, Longitude 113°. To stop and 
examine these wonders of the pre-historic age, is only 
to enhance the great enchantment that waylays the 
traveler in Arizona on every hand. They are a mass 
of rocks, evidently piled by some physical power, ages 
ago. They are massed together in a heap about fifty 
feet high with a proportionate base ; and while some 



202 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

are of a size that may be lifted by a man, others 
might be ranked with boulders. On. these rocks or 
stones, are various figures and images. Figures, geo- 
metrical, conic, and anatomical. A figure on one of 
the stones particularly attracted my attention. It was 
that of a man or woman. It reminded me of my first 
attempt to draw a man on my slate at school. A 
big round "0'' for a body, a little round "o" for ahead, 
two little straight lines for arms, and two big straight 
lines for legs. This I classed among the comical. 
Squares, circles, triangles, crosses, — snakes, toads, and 
vermin ; men without heads, and dogs without tails. 

In comparing them with some sketches I made of 
the Aztec Calendar Stone in Mexico, they show some 
variations, though a similarity. The figures are slight- 
ly indented in the rocks ; and whether it is the result 
of force at the time of application, or whether the 
chemical effect of the substance used, eating into the 
rock, are questions with me. I found it to be a com- 
mon tradition with the Indians that they were put 
there in the time of Montezuma, to record treaties 
with the different tribes. This would make them four 
hundred years old. Some geologists claim the inscrip- 
tions to be only one hundred years old. Comparing 
them again with my photographs of the Aztec Calen- 
dar stone, the similarity would seem to support the 
theory that they might have been the chronicling of 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 205 

that age, and the variations suggest, by perhaps dif- 
ferent tribes or sects of that age. This would seem to 
have some weight, as the stones are of an indiscrimi- 
nate collection and the paintings are as indiscrimi- 
nately distributed as regards the size of rock, in pro- 
portion to the amount of chronicling to be done, I 
should imagine. Opinions, however, are as varied as 
in other cases concerning the archaeology of this most 
wonderful country. In regard to the rocks, it has been 
suggested that they were monuments of boundary 
lines between the different tribe?' lands. It is the 
reader's turn to go forward and add his investigations 
to the yet meagre knowledge of the stone. 

The morning of our visit was on the Sabbath. We 
sang requiems to the departed souls of — of many un- 
known beings ; made and drank two or three gal- 
lons of lemonade, (for the desert was warm) reveled 
among the antiquities, taking notes, making sketches, 
copying inscriptions, etc., etc. One of our party finally 
suggested that we read a chapter in the Bible, it being 
Sunday. With the consent of all it was done; and 
when he came to the last clause "Rise and go hence " 
we were reminded that we were encroaching on our 
time by the influence of allurement, and that thegreat 
Prompter was with us even in the desert. I am glad 
to be able to record this little circumstance ; for a man 
is known by the company he keeps, etc., etc. 



206 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

A want has heretofore been felt for a true and accu- 
rate illustration of many of Arizona's out-of-the-way 
wonders. But the Continent Stereoscopic Company 
of New York has very materially supplied those wants 
during the past year, by photographs taken at many 
of these interesting points. Many of these I have se- 
cured for illustrations in this book. The picture of 
the Painted Eocks on page 205 is from a photograph 
taken by this company, and the first one that was 
ever procured. 




.V SCEKE IN THE SALT RIVEB VALLEY. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE SALT RIVER VALLEY — LOST ON A DESERT — il HAPPY CAMP n 
A DOLLAR DRINK — WATER TWENTY-FIVE CENTS— THE BED 
IN THE MANGER — MULE VERSUS MAN— IMPORTANT CONSID- 
ERATIONS— MONTEZUMA OR WASHINGTON, WHICH? 

WE had left the Gila Bend, where the Gila makes 
a bold sweep from its eastward course — turns 
north and emerges into the Salt Kiver — where it fur- 
nishes one of the richest valleys in the State. Our 
course now was to be over a section of country differ- 
ing very much from our former travels along the Gila, 
and resembling in character the land similar to that 
left by the receding of some portions of the great sea. 
For miles, the land is composed of a rich sandy loam 
which, when irrigated, produces largely. There are 
nine thousand acres of land under cultivation in the 
Salt River valley alone. This character of land con- 
tinues for ninety miles to Florence, from which point 
going eastward still, you enter a more mountainous 
country. This description of the land applies to the 
section from the Gila Bend to Florence with the ex- 
ception of the first fifteen miles, which is spread over 



208 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

as desolate a waste as any one would wish to see, and 
which brings us to the famous "happy camp." 

On the 10th of December at 10.30 we arrived at the 
famous " Happy Camp " — or rather a portion of our 
party did. We had intended pushing on that day 
across the desert to Maricopa Wells, but a mishap befel 
us, so we were compelled to remain the rest of the day 
on account of the loss of one of our party. The case 
was after this wise : 

Before arriving at the camp we lost sight of one of 
our wagons. We were not alarmed at this, however, 
thinking they had got on faster than we, or that they 
had taken another road, there being two. We arrived 
at the camp but the other portion of our party had not. 
We w T aited until, twelve P. M. and then our fears began 
to be agitated, and a consultation being held by our 
party on the spot an hour after our arrival, it was de- 
clared that the other wagon must have been lost, and 
when those words "lost on the desert" fell upon my 
ear, a chill ran through my whole frame. Yisions of 
the skeletons on the great Mojave desert in the north, 
and the wayside graves along the Gila, came up before 
me and I felt lonely. We despatched at once a son of 
the station agent, who was experienced in all Indian 
trails and roads to seek after the missing party and 
guide them aright. At two P. M. cheers arose from our 
party at the camp, at the sight of the missing wagon 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 211 

coming around a stony mound a short distance from 
us. Many congratulations met the youthful guide of 
the plains who had safely guided our straying party to 
its haven and its friends, together with something of a 
more solid and substantial nature. 

" Happy Camp" is an anomaly in its nomenclature; 
and yet the happiness we experienced in meeting our 
lost companions threw some light upon what might 
have possibly been the incentive to the title it now 
enjoys. How do we know what succor some way- 
faring, depressed or perhaps, starving pioneer had re- 
ceived from a more successful traveler at this particu- 
lar point. Or how from beneath the Apaches club, or 
the Navejd's tomahawk, some helpless one has been 
snatched by the timely arrival of some mountain trap- 
per or mining prospector. It must have been some 
such condition as this that gained for this sterile, 
gloomy place, its "happy " name. It is situated on a 
barren tract at the foot of a scattered, diminutive 
range of mountains, where the presumptuous cactus 
(Saguara) like a vaunting egotist, rears its haughty head 
and reigns supreme where it has no competing foe. 
Stretching far away over the cresled billows of the 
rolling valley of the Gila can be seen the crested sen- 
tinels of the hills and plains. 

Contrary to the name then, this spot is a dreary one, 
and yet the marvelous and extensive valleys that one 



212 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

sees again after crossing the one ridge of mountains 
to the east verifies the assertion of Prof. Wheeler, that 
a large portion of the lands are or can be made agri- 
cultural. 

At this station water has to be brought fifteen miles 
from the Gila Eiver, and the charge of twenty-five 
cents per head is mnde for watering horses. I think 
the price was formerly one dollar; but from some 
advanced facilities in fetching it, — it has recently been 
reduced. "Happy Camp," like many of the "Hotels of 
the desert" is nothing more than a camping spot, and 
combines all the vicissitudes as well as the ecstatic di- 
versities of life on a frontier. The scenery around is 
dismal and the character of the little mountlets, 
mounds and peaks that hem us in close by, give the 
whole a dreary effect. But if interest alone, makes 
beauty in a thing, then this place would deserve em- 
phatically the name of beautiful. One little event ex- 
perienced here, I would not sell for any other one of the 
trip. When night came, always having the same in- 
terest in that great natural restorative sleep, as I have in 
the more material one mentioned by Artemus Ward 
of the " stumik," became somewhat anxious for our 
place of repose. On this open, fruitless, barren, even 
grassless spot, we found no place to equal that of the 
corral where the mules had already been placed for 
shelter and repose. They had of course been put in 




JUST IN FBOM THE DKSKKl-GETTIxNQ HEADY FOR A SQUARE MEAL 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 215 

the most pleasant and comfortable stalls in the corral, 
made for their protection from the tornadoes or sand 
storms that sometimes blow across these wasted plains in 
a very reckless manner to say the least. The corral, as 
most all do, throughout this land, consisted of trunks 
of small trees for the corner pieces, and the rest made 
up of an association of reeds or stalks of the different 
cacti of the location, and the top had a pretended cov- 
ering of the coarse hay or weeds of the desert around. 
However, this did not prevent you from seeing the 
stars at will, nor of enjoying the refreshing spatterings 
of the rain if it should come. 

The propriety of turning the brute animals out was 
first considered; but some one who had evidently ac- 
quired the spirit of a " Bergh," protested. Stating that 
if one of our party should be taken sick, or catch his 
death of cold, or die, it would not make so much dif- 
ference, ns we could really go on without him. But if 
our mules were to meet the like fate — "What would we 
do?" to be sure. We of course admitted the argu- 
ment As I write this, the thought suggests itself, 
how singularly the condition of things, or circum- 
stances, will transverse the whole aspect of a case. At 
all events, as time progressed, it became more and 
more apparent that our lot was to be a bed in the 
manger ; and as the fact forced itself upon us the nov- 
elty of it became more prominent To humble our 



216 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

selves then the more, got by degrees, to be the ambi- 
tion of each and every one of our party. There were 
several old broken stalls, with mangers torn down, 
or delapidated, which had been decided, by the firm 
protest of our Berghite, we must make the best of and 
use. Not the best now, but the very worst of these, 
each one wanted to claim, either to immortalize him- 
self by his sufferings, or to the more thoroughly con- 
tradict his previous selfish impulse. It was a solemn 
procession that night as we all walked from the crude 
built depot on one side of the road, to our "lowly 
cots" on the other. Yes! we were to sleep "in a 
manger" that night. As vividly was the story of our 
Maker brought to our minds as ever was done by the 
communion table, or the cross. " As we lay there watch- 
ing the stars twinkle one by one, no one will or can 
ever know perhaps of the sentiments that occupied 
many of our minds, until far into the night. I singled 
out one lar^e and brilliant star and named it the " Star 
of Bethlehem." I almost fancied I could see it move. 
On all occasions, however, will one have thrust into 
his ear these misnomic allusions about the Arizona 
deserts. One man, apparently an intelligent gentle- 
man, said to me in riding over one of the stage lines 
on the Colorado basin : 

" I tell you sir, these lands will never be worth the 
paper the deed may be written upon. Never! Let 



PICTUEKSQUE ARIZONA. 21 7 

anybodj'- have them that wants them. I would give 
them for the asking." 

He was emphatic. lie knew it all, evidently — or 
thought lie did. 

"But! My dear sir," said I, "Plow do we know 
what may develop to prove that these lands maj' be 
good for something yet?" 

" I don't care," said he a little irritably " they never 
will be worth the paper the deed is made on. Besides/' 
said he, endeavoring to retain a little respect for his 
temper, "you can only argue for a thing by what you 
know." 

He could not have said anything that would have 
given me better ground for my argument The ba- 
rometer for argument was rising in me. His last re- 
mark stirred an old theme, and I said; "Yes, true, 
my dear sir, but here is just where your great error 
lies, and where man lacks a great mental scope ; where 
acting upon what he knows only, he lays down theo- 
ries, and allows no license for what he does not 
know. He unwittingly and virtually asserts there is 
nothing beyond what he does really know, which is 
the worst of all egotisms." 

The old fellow gave me a penetrating glance for just 
a moment, and then said, " Ah ! you're too intricate, 
young man." 

"Yes! and it is this ignorance of these 'intricate' 



218 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

. things that often work the greatest harm, and keep 
the world back in all its practical philosophy." 

The argument ended here. I learned afterward that 
this old man was dyspeptic, and had eaten nothing for 
either breakfast or dinner but a glass of cold water 
and a cracker. I had eaten on each occasion two beef- 
steaks, a broiled chicken on toast, about a quart of 
frejoles (Mexican beans), and all other things in pro- 
portion. He had to pay his dollar, however, as well as 
1, this being the price of a meal in Arizona, whether 
it be a "square meal" or — or a meal at all. He was 
jealous of me. While I had paid due reverence to 
Artemus Ward's admonition to "always look out for 
your 'stumik.' " 

At Maricopa Wells there is an oblong isolated 
mountain range — known as the Sa-de-la-Estrella — one 
end of which shows a most beautiful and perfect pro- 
file of the old historic chief of the Aztecs, Montezuma 
— so recognized by the tribes throughout the country. 
It is on the southern spur of the range. The moun- 
tains are named the Montezuma Mountains from this 
fact. I have never been able to see profiles with any 
accuracy or readiness; but I must confess that this 
profile of a human face carved or hewn in this rock 
by some gigantic power will show itself readily to 
ninety-nine out of every one hundred people. But if 
accuracy in detail of a mountain is to govern the 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 219 

name, then to my mind these would command the 
name of Washington. I for one, am less acquainted 
with the physical appearance of Montezuma than of 
Washington ; and from that stand-point come to my 
decision. Here, as bold as life, between heaven and 
earth, stands the Father of our country But I must 
give up my prejudices. We are dealing with Aztec 
land now, as identified with our own. We have spo- 
ken of this profile as a "beautiful" profile. At the hour 
of one of Arizona's setting suns, it supports this appel- 
lation emphatically. Here, with its golden hair em- 
blazoned with the fire of the setting sun, and the 
tinted nose of a dark shadowed blue, and with a more 
perfect light on his breast showing a continental ruf- 
fled shirt-front, Washington (Montezuma) faces the 
west in all the boldness of outline relief, and with a 
positive and admiring air that would seem to re-echo 
the words to all the world, "Westward the course of 
empire takes its way."' 

The Indians have a tradition that the famous Mon- 
tezuma is buried in this mountain, and that some day 
he will come forward to deliver and redeem his people. 
This superstition extends south, way into Mexico. 
Not a stone of this mountain will any of the Indians 
in the neighborhood touch upon any consideration. 
So far does this legend of this natural statuary extend 
that even in Mexico I was told, when there in 74, 



'220 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

that some fires which I saw kindled by the Indians, 
and over which I noticed some formal and solemn 
performance took place, was in anticipation of the 
coming of their great chief Montezuma down from 
the north, where he was resting in his happy hunting 
grounds. In some locations I understood, these fires 
were kept burning almost constantly at certain seasons 
or on certain occasions, to hasten or invoke his com- 
ing, evidently feeling their depression which has been 
a national calamity with them for time immemorial. 




JPAPAGO INDIAN WOMEN GOING FOR HAY. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE INDIAN— THE PIMO, THE MARICOPA, THE PAPAGO, THE 
ZUNI, THE MOQUI— THE A.PACHE— THEIR DIVERSITY. 

SO divided and sub-divided are, and have been the 
various tribes of Indians in the Territory of Ari- 
zona, for the past few decades, that it would take a vol- 
ume in itself to enumerate and describe them. Many of 
these too, are so insignificant in numbers as well as 
unimportant in history, and are so thoroughly on their 
"hist legs," that it would be useless, had we both time 
and room. 

So interested had our party became with Indian 
life; and so much in excess of anything we had yet 
seen, in point of numbers, and in permanent settle- 
ments were the Pimos, that we made a stop here 
longer than usual, and had our ideas of Indian life 
very much exalted by doing so. The Pimos are loca- 
ted on a rich and fertile strip of land two hundred 
miles from the Colorado River, east. Although to a 
man just from the Yosemite the plain might seem a 



224 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

little tame, the back-ground of picturesque mountains 
that jut up and relieve the valley plain, with the little 
Indian village of dome shaped dwellings scattered 
along the foreground is interesting. They number 
a little over four thousand, including the Maricopas, 
who, about the year seventeen hundred and sixty, 
allied with the Pimos. The genial character of this 
tribe (or these tribes) must be w T ell established, they 
having held strongly to their alliances to the present 
time. Their little huts are built with reeds of various 
kinds, nearly upright, slanting a little toward the cen- 
tre with a domed top. The height will average about 
seven feet and the whole is covered over with a layer 
of mud plaster. A description of the Pimo Indian 
will disappoint the school boy who starts at the word 
Indian with visions of scalping-knife and tomahawk, 
and a head ornamented with flying feathers. But 
lie must wait until he comes to the Apaches to have 
his fancies realized. 

All over this village may be seen the Pimo women 
going to and fro, on some active mission of labor; 
while over the whole sunny reservation may be seen 
patches of peas, beans, pumpkins, melons, and vegeta- 
bles of all kinds ; while vast fields of wheat, barley, corn 
and the larger crops may be seen further off. Sorghum 
has proved a profitable crop in this valley. In 1863, 
they sold seven hundred thousand pounds of wheat and 




A MARICOPA INDIAN GIRL PICKING BERRIES. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA 227 

flour to the government garrisons and travelers and mi- 
ners through the southern Gila valley. One might say 
this looks a little like business, and have a curiosity to 
see this people. Nor can the people nor the government 
in its Indian policy claim any credit for this condition 
of these Indians. As early as the sixteenth century 
Father De Nica from Mexico found these people culti- 
vating the soil. For three hundred years they have 
been known then to cultivate this land. -How much 
longer we have no authenticity to show ; and I was 
informed hy good authority while in Arizona, that du- 
ring that time it is pretty well established the land has 
never been manured in any way, and that two crops a 
year is the accustomed yield. These facts speak well 
both for the Indians and for Arizona lands. The 
average yield of wheat is twenty-nine fold. The 
crops are planted in December and July. 

The morality of this Indian is deplorable, while the 
social customs are interesting. The mode of courtship 
is, that a young Indian approaches the hut of his 
sweetheart. He does not reach it at this stage of pro- 
ceedings, but selects some comfortable rock for a seat 
or some tree or bush, and there remains in anxious re- 
pose for a certain length of time — an hour or so we 
believe it is, while his horse he ties to a tree near the 
house. This he does for three days. If the maiden 
favors him she will feed his horse, and the jig is up* 



228 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

lie goes any time after the three days and claims her. 
When a husband dies the wife is offered to any man 
who wants a wife. This is done at the grave, after 
sufficient mourning has been made to satisfy their 
grief. There is no law, however, to prevent the widow 
from continuing to mourn a reasonable length of time. 
It being a custom among these tribes for the women to 
do all the toiling, while the men are considered to have 
ample on their hands in hunting and attending to the 
cause of war; a well and able-bodied woman does not 
want long for the protection and love of a man. This 
matter of the apportionment of work to the males and 
females seems to be identical in all the Indian tribes of 
our country. They seem to think the trials of war, and 
the vigilance required in hunting to keep the house- 
hold supplied with meats, is sufficient to offset all 
other labors of whatsoever sort or kind, for all others 
are heaped upon the women. It is somewhat sadden- 
ing to a person used to the civilized world's regard for 
women to see these creatures trudging along the trail 
or road, with a ponderous basket strapped on her back, 
packed with many pounds burden, while alongside of 
her rides her husband on a horse with nothing in his 
hand but his gun. In many cases the person will be her 
son ; while the mother will be an old and feeble 
woman. In one case, I actually saw one of these old 
women, a cripple with a staff. The young man rode 




PIMO INDIANS AT HOME. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 231 

along with as unconcerned a smile as though lie had 
just shot a dozen quail on the wing with one shot. 
Well! perhaps he had. 

The morals of these Indians are bad. The mission- 
ary labors for seven years, have been, apparently, ab- 
solutely lost. Not one convert is reported to have 
been made, and licentiousness is becoming more and 
more prevalent. In their native siate and before the 
influence of the whites, however, the Pimos are re- 
ported as strictly virtuous, not tolerating any incur- 
sions whatever, upon the marriage system. 

Southeast of the Pimo reservation one hundred 
miles, is the Papago reservation. These together with 
the Pimos may be considered the model Indians of 
southern Arizona, except the Moqui in the extreme 
northeast, who are the best in the State. Their reser- 
vation consists of over seventy thousand acres, and 
their industry is proverbial. Being nearer to the 
mountainous or elevated portions, they are inclined to 
pastoral pursuits rather than agricultural, although both 
are represented well. The Papagos resemble the 
Pimos with some few traits peculiar to themselves. 
They once belonged to the tribe of the Pimos, and 
and speak the same language. As far as records 
show, these tribes, which number over ten thousand 
in all, have sustained themselves by civil pursuits, and 
have always been friendly to the whites, and anxious 



232 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

to learn of, and pattern from them. Had it not been 
for these Indians, which constitute the larger share of 
all others in the Territory, the white man would not 
to-day be able to travel with safety from the Colorado 
River across the plains to Tucson and to the rich 
mines to the east. 

Contrary to the Pirnos and Papagos, the word 
Apache has for many years been identified with scenes 
of bloodshed and murder, theft and treachery. These 
comprise six separate tribes, and occupy the eastern 
and southeastern portion of the State. It is hard 
to conceive of so close a proximity of two classes 
of people, recognized under the head of "In- 
dians," and yet so thoroughly different, occupying 
the same land at all. It suggests, however, that 
though peaceful in nature they were war-like and 
brave in spirit when necessity required it. The most 
warlike and desperate of all our American Indians 
save the Sioux, they have never-the-less been driven 
back and held at bay by the other and more docile 
tribes. Numbers and bravery of course were in their 
favor. 

The following constituted the force of the Apacl e 
in '76; under the following chiefs: — Is-kilte-shy-law 
with twelve hundred Warriors; Ma-guils with four 
hundred Warriors ; Pedro with three hundred Warri- 






isiiiiii 




A SQUAD OF INDIANS AT A GAME OF CARDS. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. '13b 

ors; Es-ki-min-i-gui with — Warriors; Diablo with 
three hundred Warriors. 

By this it will be seen that their wliole force could 
not have exceeded two thousand available warriors. 
Their success too, was founded more on their treach- 
ery and stealthiness than on their bravery. They 
were, in fact, what the name of one of their chief's 
wculd imply — " Diablo " in Spanish, meaning Devil. 
Their warfare consisted in murdering innocent men, 
women and children, as many a grave, and skeletons 
of wagons, horses and human beings throughout the 
Territory will attest. So sly and cunning were they, 
and so skilled in their art of trickery, that their depre- 
dations would almost amount to sleight of hand. 
While sitting and talking with them, they would steal 
a hat from off your head and you not know it. They 
occupy the eastern portion of the State ; but their in- 
cursions extended throughout the whole Territory un- 
til 74, when their chief — the remarkable Cochise, died. 
This Cochise was the terror of the country. His 
many strongholds were almost impenetrable to any but 
Indian experts, and always commanded some public 
highway. Often in traveling through the Territory 
men would dr^> from their horses, ignorant of where 
the cause came from ; or would be in an instant and 
without any warning beset by these "devils" who 
would seem to rise right up from the ground. * * * 



230 PICTURESQUK ARIZONA. 

But no matter what the diversity may be in these dif- 
ferent nations and tribes of Indians, the most interest- 
ing are those of the Zuni and the Moqui inhabiting a 
section of country in the extreme northeastern part of 
Arizona, and extending into New Mexico ; The Mo- 
quis are in Arizona, while the Zunis are in New Mex- 
ico; and while our party are spending the night with 
this interesting people, the Pimos, I will give some 
entertaining facts concerning the Moquis and Zunis of 
the northeast. 




AN -UNWELCOME VISITOB. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE ZUNI AND MOQUI— THE MODEL AMERICAN INDIAN — THEIR 
VILLAGES— MODES OF LIFE— MORALS— REBECCA AT THE 
WELL— GAMES AND PASTIMES— A SACRED RITE— SHREWD- 
NESS — HOSPITALITY. 

ALTHOUGH not existing wholly in Arizona, the 
proximity of the Zuni and Moqui villages and its 
people, the Territory together with its associate inter- 
ests, prevent us from passing this wonderful people 
unnoticed. 

The old tribe of the Zuni inhabit a region extend- 
ing on both sides of the line between Arizona and 
New Mexico. They are destined to prove, or, perhaps 
are the most interesting of all our aborigines, probably 
on account of our ignorance of them. The habitation 
of these people comprise seven cities — three of which 
are known as the Moqui villages, and are in Arizona. 
The main Pueblo or village is situated in the fertile 
and picturesque Zuni valley. 

The first and leading feature in a visit to this people 
is their village, or the system under which they exist 
as a community. The whole tribe of the Zuni, which 



240 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

in 76, numbered about three thousand people, live in 
one settlement. Their houses are not detaclied as in 
ordinary cities, but are a system of houses massed to- 
gether in one grand structure, in the following manner. 
An elevated section of country which overlooks the 
surrounding lowlands and valleys, is selected. A 
position on this elevation, where portions of it gives a 
slope of perhaps 45° or more, is also chosen. 
Up this incline, the houses, or the sections of the one 
grand house, are built — the one over-lapping the pre- 
vious one to about a quarter or a third of its area. 
The one in the Zuni valley is six stories high, com- 
mencing at the first house, or at the bottom of the hill, 
you approach by a ladder, to the top of that house, 
and there you find the entrance (or the front door) of 
that house, in the place where the skylight of an Amer- 
ican house is situated. From the roof of this house you 
approach the same way, by the ladder, the top of the 
succeeding house, or section of the great house, and 
proceed to enter it as you did the previous one. So 
this system is carried on throughout this communal 
condition of life. The size of the whole may be com- 
prehended when we say it covers twelve acres. The 
second leading feature is the type of some of the sub- 
jects. A few have nearly white hair, resembling gen- 
erally what is termed an English tow-head. It is only 
occasionally you will see one ; and whether these are a 




MI-SIIONG-I-NI-YI. -A VILLAGE OF THE MOOLTS IN 
NORTH-EASTERN PART OF ARIZONA. " 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 243 

phenomena in the one race, or a remnant of another, is as 
yet, a query to the ethnologist. Also, specimens will 
be found exhibiting pink or blue eyes. Both of these 
classes are however, rare. In the absence of any 
method of chronicling events being found among them, 
they afford ample scope for the culture of the histo- 
rian. Where they came from is as anxious an inquiry 
of the ethnologist as the question " Where are they 
destined to go to?" is with the psychologist or re- 
ligionist. It is supposed that the style of dwellings is 
the result of necessary protection of by-gone times. 
Whether Cortes and his allies; whether more subse- 
quently, the treacherous Mexican desperado of which 
at no distant day this countiy, was infested, perhaps 
either of these could best tell us, or whether the un- 
merciful persecutions of a more formidable tribe of In- 
dians, is a question perhaps the ancestors of the war- 
like Apache of Arizona could answer. I am of the 
opinion it was some condition of the latter. All the 
region of country included within the limits of New 
Mexico and Arizona already traveled over or explored, 
brings to the surface new evidences of persecution, 
annihilation or submission. 

One body of ruins covering an area of many acres 
on the east side of the Colorado, between Yuma (Ari- 
zona City) and Ehrenberg, exhibit one of these inter- 
esting sections, where nothing remains to trace the 



244 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

origin, duration or occupation. Whether it was an 
extensive camp of permanent miners who were mur- 
dered by Indians, or ransacked or annihilated by out- 
laws, is likely to remain a secret. Id the absence of 
positive knowledge we are apt to concede it to the 
rapacity of the more fierce and warlike Apaches. 

Although void of any system of chronicling events, 
like all the Indians of our West, the Zuni are in all 
other respects far superior, from the Anglo-Saxon 
stand-point of civilization. They are thrifty and fru- 
gal. Their lands extend for a distance of ten miles 
east and west of the boundary line between Arizona 
and New Mexico, and seem to have been chosen with 
good discretion as they embodj' some of the finest 
agricultural lands on this region. For the distance of 
upwards of a hundred miles south of the Zuni vil- 
lage there is an arroya embracing a series of small 
vallej 7 s, watered by mountain streams and a system of 
natural springs which, could the device of man cause 
to share their lot with the otherwise fertile soil of the 
so called deserts of the western part of the State, 
would cause that emblematic desert rose to assume all 
its brilliancy. The little valley of the Zuni is about 
six miles wide at the longitude of the Zuni village, 
and runs jnst here, almost due east and west. The 
Zuni village is located on the north side of the Zuni 
river, which runs directly through the centre of the 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 245 

valley. The valley is dotted here and there with 
mesas, on one of which the Zuni villages are built; 
and from the elevation of which, ranging from twenty- 
five to a hundred feet, a most charming view may be 
obtained for three miles each way across the valley. 
It reminds one somewhat of the cheerful views in 
many of the upland valleys of Mexico. Valleys, hills 
and dales, nooks, rocks, and the like, present here 
that necessary diversity that pleases the sight, and 
which characterizes the Territory of Arizona as the 
traveler goes eastward. 

The crops of these people are raised without irriga- 
tion. Their principal products are corn, wheat, barley, 
pumpkins, melons, beans, and most of the vegetables ; 
and in importance and quantity range in about the or- 
der given — corn being the largest crop. Over the 
mesas and in the beautiful valleys may be seen hand- 
somely arranged garden spots equal in neatness and 
attractiveness to those of the Teutons. Peach or- 
chards varying from a quarter of an acre down. Red 
pepper, garlic and the smaller vegetables are raised in 
gardens of various dimensions, and the gardens are 
symbols of symmetrical neatness and cleanness. They 
are attended and enhivated by the women and chil- 
dren. Although in this respect, they would seem to 
resemble the Indians in custom; but from the fact 
that the men give their energies and time to the 



246 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

field products, they would seem to be a medium be- 
tween the aborigines and anglo-saxon element, Tliey 
reminded me in this respect very much of the German. 
The gardens do better with some little irrigation, and 
the women and children do this by carrying water in 
vessels resembling the Mexican olla, placed on their 
heads. The ollas are of all sizes, and hold anywhere 
from one quart to ten gallons. The wells are of an 
original plan. They have no windlass or a means of 
a "drop." The ground is first dug until water is 
reached. An incline is then duo- down to the bottom 
of the well, from a point sufficiently distant from the 
mouth of the well, to give it an angle for easy walking, 
digging out all the earth, and leaving a complete road- 
wa}' to the bottom of the well or spring at the lower 
end of the hill. One of these wells I saw, measured 
forty feet deep and twelve square and had an incline 
approach of one hundred feet. It is an odd and pleas- 
ing sight to watch these " Kebeccas " trotting down to 
the well with their vessels on their head, and from 
their neat appearance and docile manners one has a 
profound respect and an exalted opinion of Indian life, 
after having come from the land of the greasy "Dig- 
ger" or the rapacious Apache. In their gardens one 
will scarcely find a weed. 

In the morning the men may be seen going in files 
to their fields — that is, provided you " turn out " at five 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 247 

in the morning. The division of work and rest for the 
day is very similar to the most semi-tropical countries. 
They go to the fields at early dawn, return to break- 
fast at ten o'clock (having taken a small morsel of 
something before going out, the same as they do in 
the West Indies). They do do work again until about 
three in the afternoon, avoiding the broiling sun, then 
they return to the field at that time and work until 
sun-down. 

The country being a pastoral one to a very large ex- 
tent, much stock is raised. The principal ot which is 
sheep. On one occasion in 1872, one of the Caziques 
made his daughter a present of three thousand head of 
sheep. 

Goats, cattle, horses, mules, burros, (a species of the 
jackass) hogs, chickens etc., form no small part of their 
possessions. These people are very domestic. The 
men do not gamble nor become as a rule, intoxicated ; 
a condition that has become almost identical with the 
most of American Indians. 

The chastity of the women is proverbial, and the 
morality of the men is beyond reproach. In the 
Zuni villages, women are as fair as alabaster, and as 
pure as virgin marble. Even to this very day it can- 
not but be gleaned, by an association with them, that 
any one who would tamper with their sacred virtue 
would meet with the fate of the famous guide, Ester- 



248 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

van, who suffered death for having secretly made love 
to their women. 

Their pastimes consist in music and dancing, and 
games, the chief of which is that known among them 
as paleto. It is curious to see them exert themselves 
at this game. It is the national game. One might 
sit for some time and watch them, and then have a 
longing to join them in their skip, hop and a jump. 
It is performed after this fashion : — 

A line of men and boys are formed, in their bare 
feet. Any number may join in the game. The head 
one takes a stick (the Paleto) between his big and 
second toe. With this he starts off, giving two hops 
and a jump, at each jump, allowing his right foot to 
touch the ground, giving him a powerful spring. All 
the rest are now following close behind. Their course is 
round a common circle. If the paleto man drops his 
stick, the next, without stopping, picks it up with his 
toes, placing it in the same position as the other be- 
tween his big toe and the next. If he misses, he drops 
out of the line while the next Indian behind tries his 
luck. If he picks it up lie continues on until he 
drops it and then he drops behind to the rear, as the 
one who previously had done. And so they keep up, 
he only dropping out of the line who fails to pick up 
the stick when the leader lias dropped it. Thus it 
keeps up until all but one has failed to pick up the 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 251 

paleto when dropped, and he is claimed the victor. 
This is witnessed b}' a large gathering of the women, 
who, clap or shout at any great alacrity of the. per- 
formers, and the last one is hailed as a sort of King 
o' the day; has a wreath placed upon his head, and is 
the recipient of honors, and of presents occasionally. 
This game is performed on a larger scale on fetes or 
holidays, and is a source of great merriment. Many 
a maiden will watch her lover with the most selfish 
anxiety for his success, and many sucli lovers will 
" lose the paleto' from the simple fact that the maiden 
is watching him. On fete days these games or per- 
formances generally end in grand processions. They 
have many fete days in which many historical events 
are commemorated. On the evenings of these days a 
sort of religions feast or entertainment is usually held. 
It is performed with great pomp and reverence. A 
performance which was enacted with grand ceremony 
attracted our attention. Some animal, usually a 
quadruped of some kind, this time a rabbit, was placed 
on the ground with his head toward the east. In its 
fore-paws, which are stretched out before him, is 
placed an ear of corn. Before this, the spirit man 
takes his position with a bowl of meal and with lan- 
gunge and gestures the stranger does not understand' 
consecrates this meal. This being done, the animal 
and the ear of corn are sprinkled thoroughly with it, 



252 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

and a solemn exercise of prayer and consecration is 
gone through with. After this the animal is allowed 
to remain one day, and then taken up and eaten as a 
consecrated feast of thanksgiving lor an abundant har- 
vest. On these occasions no Mexican is allowed to 
enter their domain and see their processions. 

The men and women alike, pet, idolize — fairly 
u worship" their children. Their abodes are superior 
— in fact, cannot be compared with what we under- 
stand as Indian huts. In style and material they re- 
semble Mexican buildings except their houses are 
built as we have described, en masse, communial — 
one and each supporting the other. The principal 
room where the members of the tribes receive friendly 
visitors, are on an average nine feet high, with seats 
running around the structure generally coverect with 
some unshorn skin of an animal such as a goat, sheep, 
wild cat, etc., making it preferable to a hard board for 
the 'sitter. The floors are of stone, and the rooms are 
as a general thing, neatly whitewashed ; which is 
more than we can say of the average Mexican resi- 
dences met with in Arizona. The}' are clean and neat 
always. One singular thing exists. No vermin are 
to be found in the whole town; neither rats, mice, 
roaches nor bed-bugs. A species of head lice is the 
only thing in that line, that ruffles their temper or 
destroys the equilibrium of their nerves. They are 



;§>;v 








THE FREE INDIAN GIRLS :-AN-TI-NAINTS, PU-LU-SU 
AND WI-CHUTS. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 255 



keen in trade — never getting excited or in a hurry, 
and "drive a bargain" with all the shrewdness of a 
Chatham Streeter. With an anglo-saxon training, 
these people, I shouM judge, would become one of the 
greatest policy people in the world. The spirit is 
innate in them ; for, until the break of friendship be- 
tween you and them is made flagrant, no outward 
manifestation is made of any slight antipathy that may 
exist between you upon slight provocations, that could, 
be detected by an outside observer. The same hospi- 
tality, provided you are admitted within their limits 
at all, is extended to all: another evidence where the 
brain power has control of, and keeps the sentiments 
and impetuosities at bay. Let your visit be at any 
hour of the day or night they welcome you with this 
spirit. If in the night even, the same invitation for 
you to parlake of refreshments, or to drink some of 
their beverages, is extended. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE MOQUI AND ZUNI CONTINUED— THEIR DRESS— MANUFAC- 
TURES— GOVERNMENT— THE SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA— THE 
THE ARK AGAIN — A PRESENT FROM PRESIDENT LINCOLN— 
THAT PERSISTENT MISSION— MAJOR POWELL'S DESCRIPTION. 

THE dress is of a cotton tunic, with a loose girdle, 
extending to the knees. In cold weather a blan- 
ket, made more generally by the Moqui tribes, is 
worn. Some of these blankets aie of the richest de- 
signs, and will last a life time. They arc mottled with 
all colors and devices, and resemble, and would make 
very fashionable and serviceable lap robes as used in 
American metropolitan life. Some travelers have been 
known to pay as high as one hundred dollars for one 
of these blankets, and it is estimated that to some of 
them a whole life time has been devoted. Col. R. J. 
Tlinton has one of these blankets or shawls for which I 
think he said he paid forty dollars, but for which he 
would not take one hundred dollars cash. It puzzled 
the whole party to decide how the different colors 
were blended. The thread seemed to be a tightly 



PICTURESQUE ARIZOXA. 259 

twisted or " water-twisted " one, of fine wool — a thread 
which among our modern manufacturers, is considered 
of the greatest durability. Remembering the primi- 
tive modes possessed by the Indians, it is a marvel 
how they can produce such perfection. The women 
wear an outer garment falling from the neck to the 
ankle, girded at the waist, with tassels hanging from 
the girdle to the feet. Woolen leggins and high moc- 
casins of different designs ornament their feet. The 
arms of the women are generally allowed to go bare, 
(except in such cooler days or parts of the year when 
they wear the wrapper or blanket spoken of above) 
exhibiting an arm and hand that many a so-called 
belle would be proud of, except that the hand will 
show the effects of a little closer intercourse with the 
material things of the world — dish cloths and slop- 
pails — for instance. When they conceal those arms 
under the wrapper, however, it seems to be with as 
much grace as the best of 'em. Their hair is black 
and thick like the ordinary Indian, but they wear it 
with more taste, and something after the fashion of the 
Chinese women. 

Their government is more after the civilized code 
than Indian. It consists of a governor; and what 
might correspond to our Lieut. Governor. An Alcalde 
(or Mayor). Three Tenientes (or Police commissioners) 



2(50 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

who are responsible for the good behavior of the peo- 
ple, and twelve Caziques (or councilmen). 

The head Cazlque serves during life, and is called the 
Wakamano. The Governor also serves for life. 
The others are all elected yearly. The war chief 
during peace conducts the different kinds of hunts. 

All orders — for the government and control of 
the tribes are given by the Governor in person from 
the top of the central house to his Caziques, and the 
orders are then distributed in the different locations 
or different sections of the grand house by them. 
They walk over the different places crying at the top 
of their voices, the order as given by the Governor — 
the story of the town cryers of old resuscitated. 

In times of threatened raids from the Apaches or 
Navajoes, or impending dangers of war, they will not 
only congregate en masse in, and around their aerial 
city, but will drive up all their stock on the mesa, and 
once there they can bid defiance to an armed foe much 
greater in numbers than their own. It is supposed 
that these are the seven cities of Cibola which Coronado, 
with an armed force of Spaniards went, in 1540, from 
Mexico to conquer. It will be remembered how the in- 
habitants, although with primitive utensils of war, and 
with vastly inferior numbers, conquered the Spaniards. 
This was done by rolling huge boulders from the 
height, hurling missiles, arrows etc., at and down upon 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 263 

their foes, ns they would endeavor to ascend the mesa. 

" These people too, have their tradition of the flood. 
They say they have lived in these mountains and 
among these valleys ever since the world was de- 
stroyed by a great flood. Tlieir ancestors got into a 
floating log which happened to be floating along. 
This log in the course of due time, and as the waters 
"soaked into the earth," landed on a high peak of the 
San Francisco Mountains. Shortly after their num- 
bers increased rapidly, and the Apaches attacked them, 
killing the most of their tribe, and the remainder jour- 
neyed north to where they now live. Since this time, 
with their natural fortresses of defence, to be found in 
the mesa, together with their watchfulness, they have 
defended themselves against all odds. The old Gover- 
nor — Governor Pino by name, can l>e often seen walk- 
ing through his little city with the air and spirit of a 
truly modest guardian. On special or state occasions, 
the Governor carries a gold-headed cane which was 
given him by President Lincoln. 

"In the centre of the town stand the remains of the 
old Catholic mission. It has not been used for wor- 
ship for over one hundred years. How old the mis- 
sion is, I am not possessed of sufficient facts to say. 
Some records date back as far as 1732, — some older 
records, being obliterated. Two old bells which re- 
main still in the belfry are stamped 1689 and 1751. 



264 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

From some cause the priests of the cliurch were ban- 
ished from the place by the Zunis about one hundred 
years ago and have not been permitted to return since. 

We give a few additional interesting extracts from 
Major J. W. Powell's letters to Scribner's Magazine, in 
relation to this people: 

" By day the men hunted and the women gathered 
berries and the other rich fruits that grow in that coun- 
try, and at night they danced. A little after dark a 
fire was kindled, and the musicians took their places. 
They had two kinds of instruments. One was a large 
basket tray, covered with pitch inside and out, so as to 
be quite hard and resonant; this was placed over a pit 
in the ground, and they beat on it with sticks. The 
other was a primitive fiddle, made of a cedar stick, as 
large round as my wrist and about three feet long ; 
this was cut with notches about three inches apart 
They placed one end on a tray arranged like the one 
just described, placed the other end against the stom- 
ach, and played upon the fiddle with a pine-stick bow, 
which was dragged up and down across the notches, 
making a rattling, shrieking sound. So they beat their 
loud drum and sawed their hoarse fiddle for a time, 
until the young men and maidens gathered about and 

joined in a song: 

' Ki-ap-pa tu-gu-wun, 
Pi-vi-an na kai-va.' 

(Friends, let the play commence; all sing together.) 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 265 

Gradually they formed a. circle, and the dance com- 
menced. Around they went, old men and women, 
young men and maidens, little boys and girls, all i n 
one great circle, around and around, all singing, all 
keeping time with their feet, pat, pat, pat, in the dust 
and sand ; low, hoarse voices ; high, broken, scream- 
ing voices ; mellow, tender voices ; but louder than 
all, the thump and screech of the orchestra, 

" One set done another was formed; this time the 
women dancing in the inner circle, the men without. 
Then they formed in rows, and danced, back and 
forth in lines, the men in one direction, the women in 
another. Then thej' formed again, the men standing 
expectant without, the women dancing demurely 
within, quite independent of one another, until one 
maiden beckoned to a lover, and he, with a loud, 
shrill whoop, joined her in the sport. The ice broken, 
each woman called her partner, and so they danced 
by twos and twos, in and out, here and there, with 
steadily increasing time, until one after another, broke 
down and but three couples were left. These danced 
on, on, on, until they seemed to be wild with uncon- 
trollable motion. At last one of the couples failed, 
and the remaining two pattered away, while the whole 
tribe stood by shouting, yelling, laughing, and scream- 
ing, until another couple broke down, and the .cham- 
pions only remained. Then all the people rushed 



2CG PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

forward, and the winning couple were carried and 
pushed by the crowd to the fire. The old chief came 
up, and on the young man's head placed a crown of 
eagle's feathers. A circlet of braided porcupine quills 
was placed about the head of the maiden, and into 
this circlet were inserted plumes made of the crest of 
the quail and the bright feathers of the humming bird. 
I have said that the ceremony was in honor of Mu-ing- 
\va, the god of rain. It was a general thanksgiving 
for an abundant harvest, and a prayer for rain during 
the coming season. Against one end of the kiva was 
placed a series of picture writings on wooden tablets. 
Carved wooden birds on little wooden pedestals, and 
many pitchers and vases, were placed about the room. 
In the niches were kept the collection of sacred jewels, 
little crystals of quartz, crystals of calcite, garnets, beau- 
tiful pieces of jasper, and other bright or fantastically 
shaped stones, which, it was claimed, they had kept 
for many generations. Corn, meal, flour, and white and 
black sand were used in the ceremony at different 
times. There were many sprinklings of water, which 
had been previously consecrated by ceremony and 
prayer. Often the sand or meal were scattered about. 
Occasionally during the twenty-four hours a chorus of 
women singers were brought into the kiva, and the 
general ceremony was varied by dancing and singing. 
The dancing was performed by single persons or by 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. *>67 

couples, or by a whole bevy of women, but the singing 
was always in chorus, except a kind of chant from 
time to time, by the elder of the priests. My knowl- 
edge of the language was slight, and I was able to 
comprehend but little of what w r as said ; but I think I 
obtained, by questioning and close observation, and 
gathering a few words here and there, some general 
idea of what they were doing. About every two hours 
there was a pause in the ceremony, when refreshments 
were brought in, and twenty minutes or half an hour 
was given to general conversation ; and I always took 
advantage of such a time to have the immediately 
preceding ceremony explained to me as far as possible. 
During one of these resting times I took pains to make 
a little diagram of the position which had been as- 
sumed by the different parties engaged, and to note 
down, as far as possible, the various performances, 
which I will endeavor to explain . 

" A little to one side of the fire (which was in the mid 
die of the chamber) and near the sacred paintings, the 
four priests took their positions in the angles of a 
somewhat regular quadrilateral. Then the virgin 
placed a large vase in the middle of a space, then she 
brought a pitcher of water, and, with a prayer, the old 
man poured a quantity into a vase. The same was 
done in turn by the other priests. Then the maiden 
brought on a little tray or salver, a box or pottery 



268 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

case, containing the sacred jewels, and, after a prayer, 
tlie old man placed some of these jewels in the water, 
and the same ceremony was performed bj each of the 
other priests. Whatever was done by the old priest 
was also done by the others in succession. Then the 
maiden brought kernels of corn on a tray, and these 
were in like manner placed on the water. Sbe then 
placed a little brush near each of the jDriests. These 
brushes were made of the feathers of the beautiful 
warblers and humming-birds found in that region. 
Then she placed a tray of meal near each of the priests 
and a tray of white sand, and a tray of red sand, and 
a tray of black sand. She then took from the niche 
in the wall a little stone vessel, in which had been 
ground some dried leaves, and placed it in the centre 
of the space between the men. Then on a little wil- 
low-ware tray, woven of many colored straws, she 
brought four pipes of the ancient pattern — hollow 
cones, in the apex of which were inserted the stems. 
Each of the priests filled his pipe with the ground 
leaves from the stone vessel. The maiden lighted a 
small, fantastically painted stick and gave it to the 
priest, who lighted his pipe and smoked it with great 
vigor, swallowing the smoke, until it appeared that his 
stomach and mouth were distended. Then, kneeling 
over the vase, he poured the smoke from his mouth 
into it, until it was filled, and the smoke piled over 




AX INDIAN HUNTER. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 269 

and gradually rose above him, forming a cloud. Then 
the old man, taking one of the little feather brushes, 
dipped it into the vase of water and sprinkled the 
floor of the kiva, and, standing up, clasped his hands, 
turned his face upward, and prayed. ' Mu-ing-wa! 
very good ; thou dost love us, for thou didst bring us 
up from the lower world. Thou didst teach our fa- 
thers, and their wisdom has descended to us. We 
eat no stolen bread. No stolen sheep are found in 
our flocks. Our young men ride not the stolen ass. 
We beseech thee, Mu-ing-wa, that thou wouldst dip 
thy brush, made of the feathers of the birds of heaven, 
into the lakes of the skies, and scatter water over the 
earth, even as I scatter water over the floor of the 
kiva ; Mu-ing-wa, very good.' 

" Then the white sand was scattered over the floor, 
and the old man prayed that during the coming sea- 
son Mu-ing-wa would break the ice in the lakes of 
heaven, and grind it into ice dust (snow), and scatter 
it over the land, so that during the coming winter the 
ground might be prepared for the planting of another 
crop. Then, after another ceremony with kernels of 
corn, he prayed that the corn might be impregnated 
with the life of the water, and made to bring forth an 
abundant harvest After a ceremony with the jewels, 
he prayed that the corn might ripen, and that each 
kernel might be as hard as one of the jewels. Then 



270 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

this part of the ceremony ceased. The vases and the 
pitchers, and jewels, and other paraphernalia of the 
ceremony were placed away in the niche by the 
mother. At day-break on the second morning, when 
the ceremonies had ceased, twenty-five or thirty mai- 
dens came down into the kiva, disrobed themselves, 
and were reclothed in gala dress, variously decorated 
with feathers and bells, each assisting the other. Then 
their faces were painted by the men in thiswise: a 
man would take some paint in his mouth, thoroughly 
mix it with saliva, and with his finger paint the girl's 
face with one color, in such a manner as seemed right 
to him, and she was then turned over to another man 
who had another color prepared. In this w T ay their 
faces were painted yellow, red and blue. When all 
was ready, a line was formed in the kiva, at the head 
of which was the grandmother, and at the foot the 
virgin priestess, who had attended through the entire 
ceremony. As soon as the line was formed below, 
the men, wilh myself, having in the meantime re- 
clothed ourselves, went up into the court and were 
stationed on the top of the house nearest the entrance 
to the kiva. We found all the people of the village, 
and what seemed to me all the people of the surround- 
ing villages, assembled on top of the houses — men, 
women and children, all standing expectant. 

" As the procession emerged from the kiva by the 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 271 

ladder; the old woman commenced to chant. Slowly 
the procession marched about the court and around 
two or three times, and then to the centre, where the 
maidens formed a circle, the young virgin priestess 
standing in the centre. She held in her hand a beau- 
tifully wrought willow-work tray, and all the young 
men stood on the brink of the wall next to the plaza 
as if awaiting a signal. Then the maiden, with eyes 
bandaged, turning round and round, chanting some- 
thing which I could not understand, until she should 
be thoroughly confused as to the direction in which 
the young men stood. Then she threw out of the 
circle in which she stood the tray which she held, and 
at that instant, every young athlete sprang from the 
wall and rushed toward the tray, and entered into the 
general conflict to see who should obtain it. No 
blows were given, but they caught each other about 
the waist and around the neck, tumbling and rolling: 
about into the court until, at last, one got the tray into 
his possession for an instant, threw it aloft and was 
declared the winner. With great pride he carried it 
away. Then the women returned to the kiva. In a 
few minutes afterward they emerged again, another 
woman carrying a tray, and so the contests were kept 
up until each maiden had thrown a tray into the 
court-yard, and it had been won b} T some of the ath- 
letes. About ten o'clock these contests ended, and 



272 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

the people retired to their homes, each family in the 
village inviting its friends from the surrounding vil- 
lages, and for an hour there was feasting and revelry. 
During the afternoon there were races, and afterward 
dancing, which was continued until midnight." 




A SCOUT OF THE NAVAJO INDIANS IN NORTH-EASTERN ARIZONA. 






CHAPTER XVII. 



THE ANTIQUITY OF THESE INDIANS— ARIZONA S VICISSITUDES — 
CONQUERED AT LAST— AMERICA'S DARK AGES— A COSTLY 
BONFIRE— PRESCOTT — HUMBOLDT — BANCROFT — TO THE 
LAND OF ANCIENT LORE BY RAIL ! 



IT is a well-known fact that the antiquity of these 
people is one of the many subjects connected with 
Arizona that is ; and lias been ever since the time of 
the Spanish conquest, taxing the investigation of man. 
As Governor Safford once said : " There is probably 
no portion of our domain where such a variety of 
Indians live, speaking so many different dialects, as in 
Arizona." And we might add of so many different 
customs and natural characteristics. In regard to the 
Znnis and Moquis it is now asked, u Ave they Aztec, 
Toltec, or what? " The nearest we have got to it yet 
is that they are "whatever" they m;iy be. They 
may be the descendants of the remnants of some par- 
ticular tribe, or the remnants of a score of tribes 
that suffered the incursions of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, consequent upon the invasion and conquest by 
Cortez. What a revolution was there ! What a turn- 



2*6 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

ing upside down of institutions of a civilized, culti- 
vated and refined people, who are now forgotten and 
almost obliterated by the lapse ot time. A people, 
perhaps, scientific in the extreme, and whose institu- 
tions in many respects equalled, if not excelled, some 
of those of our own civilization. With the opening 
up of Arizona, the reward to us may be commensu- 
rate with our difficulty and delay of getting a practi- 
cal admission to her. More obstacles, and perhaps 
oftener, have been thrown in the way to retard the 
opening up of Arizona than perhaps any other por- 
tion of our country. In addition to the most formid- 
able and desperate tribes of Indians that ever com- 
bated the approach of civilization, the position of 
Arizona, subjects us to the incursions of the treacher- 
ous Mexican banditti, who are as ready and willing to 
profit by any misfortune or weakness of his neighbor 
as the most ruthless Indian. Its position too, sub- 
jected it to a great drawback in 1861 and '63 by our 
civil war ; and at a time when she was again budding 
with success. 

Some men, like communities are often found in 
their egotism, congratulating themselves on the ad- 
vance — the progression they are making, having an 
infallible belief that progression, is a magnate taking 
no back tracks, and meeting with no diversions ; that 
we never lose, but always gain. That we did not lose 




A NAVAJO INDIAN BOY. 



- . 




AN ANCIENT WAtt DANCE JF THE APACHES. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 277 

anything in the destruction of the Alexandrian library, 
or that if we did it was chaff compared to what we 
gained immediately after, or by the very destruc- 
tion itself. Or that by the dark ages, although admit, 
ting they were irksome and disagreeable in themselves- 
nothing was lost. Others there are who claim to see a 
complete revolution in all things ; who claim a com- 
prehensive distinction between progress and change; 
who rather glory in finding that which was lost, claim- 
ing nothing new under the sun, and who concede that 
the dark ages are the great Machiavels of time who 
cunningly and stealthily crowd themselves in to baffle 
the philosopher in his course, and who simply cover 
up — hide, things for a limited period, for our employ- 
ment and amusement in finding again. 

From 1520 to 1530, then was the " dark age " of the 
North American Continent. Enough was covered up 
during those ten years to take all the science, work, 
and philosophy of centuries to unearth. This we 
know. But we do not know but that there is much 
that will never be discovered, nor even dreamed of. 
The most of these belong or are connected, in some 
way with the people of whom we have barely made 
mention, and of whom if volumes were written, which 
has already been done, one could scarcely do more. 
To what extent these facts exist may be made clearer 



278 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

by reference to the historian, Prescott. Prescott says : 
Book VI, Chap. 8 : 

"Yet the Aztecs must have been in possession of a 
much larger treasure, if it were only the wreck of that 
recovered from the Spaniards on the night of the mem- 
orable flight from Mexico. Some of the spoils may 
have been sent away from the capital ; some spent in 
preparations for defence, and more of it buried in the 
earth, or sunk in the waters of the lake. Their menaces 
were not without meaning. They had, at least, the 
satisfaction of disappointing the avarice of their ene- 
mies. 

" Cortez had no further occasion for the presence of 
his Indian allies. * ' * * * * * 
They carried off a liberal share of the spoils, of 
which they had plundered the dwellings — not of a 
kind to excite the cupidity of the Spaniards — and 
returned in triumph, (short-sighted triumph !) at the 
success of their expedition, and the downfall of the 
Aztec dynasty." 

The memorable night alluded to above was that 
which is the present patron saint day of Mexico, — the 
day of St. Hypolito — and was selected and handed 
down as such from the circumstances connected with 
it. 

Prescott also says, in speaking of the great quanti- 
ties of the line arts that is known to have existed 



PICTITEESQUE ARIZONA. 279 

among the Aztecs at the time of the Spanish con- 
quest : — " The first archbishop of Mexico collected these 
paintings from every quarter, especially from Tez- 
euco, the most cultivated capital in Anahuac, and the 
great depository of the national archives. He then 
caused them to be piled up in a 'mountain heap,' as it 
is called by-the Spanish writers themselves, in the mar- 
ket place of Tiateloco, and reduced them all to ashes." 

Humboldt said : — " The Mexicans (Aztecs) were in 
possession of annals that went back to eight and a half 
centuries beyond the epoch of the arrival of Cortez 
in the country of Anahuac." 

Bancroft tells us also, that the Aztecs retained many 
traditions and systems of the Toltecs " whose written 
annals they also preserved." He also says that at the 
time of the arrival of the Spaniards, there were great 
quantities of manuscript treasured up in the country. 

A recent correspondence to the Philadelphia Weekly 
Press, says: — "At the time of the conquest of Mexico, 
Cortez found in Mexico a people millions in number, 
according to his account, enjoying a high order of civ- 
ilization. Their government was a confederated em- 
pire of many states, a rather highly organized system 
implying large political knowledge and practical states- 
manship. Their religion was one of peace and love, 
if their temples filled with flowers and birds and 
fountains, and their daily life and conversation and 



280 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

the many virtues transmitted to their descendants to- 
day — if these works are any evidence of their faith. 
They had wealth of gold and silver, and artistic work- 
ers in their precious metals. Thej had fine houses 
and great public works, temples, aqueducts, roadways. 
They had a calendar measuring the solar year more 
accurately than ours, and requiring readjustment not 
every four years, but only once in half a century. 
They had full records of their own civilization and 
history, but they were richer yet in the possession of 
ample and authentic records of the races before them." 

All these annals and paintings met the same fate. 
All things in short connected with this people that fire 
would destrojr, was obliterated from the face of the 
earth. It eclipsed the decline and fall of the Roman 
empire, and the worst features of history repeated 
themselves in the new world. 

Science has heretofore been confined to the ancient 
recesses of the old world. But only a short space of 
time will elapse when the steam car alone will lead us 
to a new field of labor in this channel ; curiosity and 
pleasure will follow closely in the wake of ambition's 
stronger impulse; and Arizona, New Mexico, and our 
southwest generally will resound with notes of the 
choicest ancient lore. The tide of pre-historic study, 
will be suddenly transferred to our very doors, and the 
flash of our ignited torch cast a lurid glare on even a 
pre- Adamite existence. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE GREAT CASA GRANDE — IMPRESSIONS — A PALACE, CASTLE 
OR WHAT ?— A BILLOWY SEA OF GREEN— THE PUZZLE OF 
PUZZLES. 

ALTHOUGH in the mines and in their mining lies 
the chief value and support of Arizona, if not of 
the nation so to speak, the pre-historic land-marks 
that exist on every hand in our southwest — and not 
only these, but the actual existence of the prehistoric 
people (in their descendants) that yet remain in a 
goodly number, constantly attract an additional class 
of people, in our scientists, archeologists, travelers and 
tourists. 

In the east as well as the west — in the south as 
well as the north, many evidences of these have been 
already discovered. Major Powell, in his recent ex- 
plorations on the upper Colorado River, reports ruins 
along its banks and on its Plateaus ; and Gov. A. P 
K. Safford tells of some in the nearer northwest. 

A little to the southeast of the Pimo Indians, about 
ten miles off lies the ruins of the great Casa Grande of 
Arizona. It would seem modesty and good taste in 



282 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

me to refrain from an extended description and refer- 
ence to these ruins, except so far as to give a general 
idea of their appearance, and to complete the import- 
ant features of the Territory ; and then to say to the 
reader, there they are. Indeed in this, have we told all 
we know. Since the year 1694 when Father Kino 
from Mexico gave the first account of them every wri- 
ter or narrator has drawn largely upon his imagination 
and still harder upon his knowledge, to throw some 
light upon these somewhat ancient structures. But 
we know nothing. The whole is mere conjecture. 

After having driven a distance of ten miles southeast 
of the Pimo villages (or the same distance southwest 
from Florence), the traveler strikes upon a vast open 
land, slightly undulating, aud backed or encircled by 
picturesque mountains. The land here for miles is 
just diversified enough with growths of different kinds, 
as well as by the peculiar contour of the land to make 
the perspective pleasing ; the undulation in some cases 
amounting to small hills. If an observant traveler, 
you will notice in passing over some of the undula- 
tions, that they are oblong, and are remains of an 
acequia or aqueduct. This conflicts a little with the 
sentiment under which you have been traveling, and 
flattering yourself that you or your people were the 
first civilized or intelligent beings that ever trod this 
soil; you are amazed when by mathematical demonstra 




* 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 285 

tions, you find the grading and building of these ace- 
quias to be based upon practical principles equal to 
any our present science is able to conceive. You are 
now ascending a gentle grade, and a few rods bring 
you face to face upon a high ruin of — you don't know 
what ; but suppose from its shape, an ancient house, 
supplemented on all sides by smaller ruins, of perhaps 
smaller houses, or of sections of the main house. 
Then all your energies of imagination and conjecture 
are strained, and the interest in the surroundings has 
increased. The spirit that often looms up in mute ob- 
jects, holds you fast and talks to jou of things }^ou 
know not of, and yet tells you not of them. All that 
interest, enhanced by mystery, wells up in you, and you 
are riveted to the spot. You are standing on an ele- 
vated plateau from which you look out upon a very 
gentle decline, rolling in its nature, and covered with 
thousands of known and unknown plants and shrubs. 
Over this billowy green your eye is carried to the 
mountain outlines, and beyond. Beyond the moun- 
tains even, in the translucent atmosphere, your eye 
seems to wander, and if the weather is especially clear, 
or the time of day late, the halo, of which we have 
spoken in connection with other mountains, will lend 
a beautiful back-ground to an already grand perspec- 
tive. The scene is a beautiful one, and the outlook 
commanding. You are standing now close by, or 



286 riCTURESQUK ARIZONA. 

leaning against the walls of the great Casa Grande. 
You turn and look upon them. You step back and 
lift your head to comprehend the whole structure more 
at a glance. The structure, or rather the main ruin, 
as it remains now is about sixty feet high on an aver- 
age, hy about forty b}^ fifty in area. "We notice apper- 
tures on the ground level which we suppose to have 
been door places, and above we see the square open- 
ings for windows. As we do so and comprehend 
these as an outlook, we turn about again and behold 
the grand stretch of country around on all sides, for 
many, many leagues. Allowing our imagination to 
supply the extra distance from the ground, or actually 
climbing up with some difficulty into the breaks, we 
take a second survey of the land we would crave to 
call our own. As we do so we are compelled, con- 
trary to our egotism, to admit that at least, beings with 
some art and poetry in their souls, whether they be 
born of God or of the devil (as an early explorer sug- 
gested) had selected this spot for their castle. The ex- 
tent of the smaller ruins around, also, and the remains 
of an acequia or aqueduct running around the 
grounds for nine miles, suggests the existence, at some 
previous day, of a potent city ; and from the strength 
and duration of their walls, a well made one. We 
descend again from within these dumb and tantalizing 
walls. They will not speak to us. We have to shake 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 289 

hands with ourselves for what we know. The Indians 
have a tradition that these ruins existed five hundred 
years ago. Down and outside, we turn and look again 
at the remnant of centuries. 

You have by this time been worked up to a pitch 
of the highest interest. Who were these people? 
you ask. Where did they come from ? and what was 
their end ? And, like all before you, you have to 
answer them for yourself. No one can tell you. His- 
tory has beaten itself. Now comes the Arizona prob- 
lem again! Were they Aztecs? or, were they Tol- 
tecs? Did they live in the inglorious age of the Span- 
ish conquerors, and were they crushed and annihilated 
by them? or were they of the earlier Toltec age, and 
swept off the face of the earth by the more warlike and 
ferocious Aztecs from the north in the thirteenth and 
fourteenth centuries ? You try to throw some light 
upon your ignorance by the character of the neighbor 
ing country and its human life. Now you are puzzled. 
To the south, you trace the native Mexican Indian, a 
personification of laziness, and intermixed with the 
inglorious elements that perhaps was the destroyers 
of the very light you crave; producing a race whose 
energies would scarcely build a single wall, much less 
a palace. To the north you have the Pimos, and 
Papagos ; docile, industrious and affectionate in 
peace ; brave and fearless when at war, yet slow to 



'290 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

anger and merciful. To the east, a little way off, the 
murderous Apache looms up with all the horror of 
murder and death. A little further to the north again 
are the Moqui and Zuni people, as much different from 
the former as the soul from the flesh ■ whose habits of 
life and industry, are proverbial for integrity and pros- 
perity ; who embody all the finer sentiments of a truly 
cultivated soul, whose love for one another is only 
equalled by their bravery and nobleness. In all these 
I say, we see such a vast diversity of the human race, 
we ask to which can we ascribe the descendency of 
people who once inhabited these ruined structures. Were 
they so scattered by some crushing power that each 
fragment has become an isolated portion, in a frame- 
work that lias created a separate and distinct race ? 
Were they the Toltecs crushed by the Aztecs ? or, 
were they Aztec crushed by the ignoble — the inglori- 
ous Spanish crusaders of the sixteenth century? 
Were they objects born of the devil against whom the 
Christian was in duty bound to carry on the work of 
extermination ? If so, nobly did that Christian do his 
work ! 

These interesting, and perhaps valuable relics to the 
unearthing of some lost or pre-historic knowledge, are 
fast going to decay. Even the little knowledge we 
have of them, should with a possibility, compared to 
a greater, warrant the government in protecting and 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 291 

preserving them. It is estimated that upwards of one 
hundred thousand people inhabited the Gila valley in 
Arizona at one time. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



FLORENCE — ITS UNIQUENESS — ANXIETY FOR COL. GRAHAM- 
FALSE ALARM— MODERN RUINS— THE OLD MISSION BUILD- 
INGS — SAN XAVIER DEL BAC. 



OUR party was in good spirits when w r e left the 
Pi mo villages; and our reflections of the experi- 
ence with the interesting people and their dwellings 
often recurred to our minds. The recollection of their 
many quaint narratives concerning their relation with 
the whites, and of their peculiar life, has often enter- 
tained me in solitude since. A half day's travel from 
the Pimo villages brings you to the quaint old tow T n 
of Florence. I say " quaint " and " old " town. You 
can hardly say old or new. It is a little of both ; and 
the two extremes are more forcibly met with here 
than perhaps anywhere in the Territory, except, per- 
haps at Tucson, which town is beginning, under the 
American ambition, to aspire to something more than 
one story adobes. But the very combination of these 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 



293 



extremes makes it quaint. Here you "will find the 
primitive Mexican or half breed Indian adobe hut; 
the log cabin; the Anglo-Saxon American cottage 
among a cluster of cotton-wood or willow; and the 
aborigines' tepis. The slight elevation of this place 
with its cooler bracing atmosphere over that of the 
hotter valleys of the Gila or Colorado, is a promising 
feature for its growth. It also has a beautiful valley 
bottom contiguous to it, which will at no distant day 
open up a fine farming country. The elevation is 
about five hundred feet. The pattern of the city re- 
sembles very much, Salt Lake City, Utah ; having its 
streets cheerfully cooled by running streams of living 
water, brought down from the Gila by artificial means, 
and having these streams edged with a growth of 
cotton -wood or willow. 

We had not to drive far from the Pimo villages to the 
next hacienda or station. Here we learned for the 
first time on this tour, of one of those entertainments 
common on highways and especially on our frontier — 
a stage robbery. Like all traveling parties over our 
new West, our own had passed many a moment in con- 
versation on this subject while wending our way over 
mountain, plain and mesa. We had decided just what 
we would all do in case of an attack. One of us 
would grab the fellow by the hair; (if there happened 
to be two, we bind the other one — or choke him); 



294 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

and if more, we would shoot the whole lot of them — 
with compassion of course, but as a matter of self-de- 
fense and protection. There were two of our party, 
however, not participants in the conversation, and 
they enjoyed hugely, the good will and determina- 
tion of our friends to rid the desert of its unpleasant 
visitors ; but as well did we enjoy the credulity of 
these self-same deliverers. The whole secret was, we 
two had " been there before ; " and knew that in case 
of an attack, their good intentions would fail as com- 
pletely as had their bravery given impulse to their 
threats. The stage from Tucson that morning, had 
been robbed. Col. Graham had left our party on that 
morning and gone ahead to Tucson just before we 
learned of the affair, to make additional arrangements 
for our further travels into the southeast. We felt a 
little anxiety on his account. He was naturally, in 
lieu of his mission, laden with more or less of just 
such " trash " as would have been acceptable to these 
"road agents." Had I myself been aware of the ex- 
perience with these agents that lay in store for me on 
my subsequent return — my interest in the affair could 
not but have been vastly greater. Subsequent knowl- 
edge, however, relieved our anxieties, and the prepa- 
rations we found at Tucson, on our arrival there, for 
our further progress, was sufficient evidence that not 
hide nor hair, nor the pocket, of our fore-runner had 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 295 

been disturbed. It was the incoming stage that had 
suffered. 

Directly south, about seventy-five miles, lies the 
now ambitious town of Tucson, the metropolis of the 
State, and at one time the capital. In visiting Tuc- 
son, one has virtually visited the phlegmatic Mexican 
condition of life, as completely as though he had been 
to Mexico, or to some hamlet of suburban Spain. 
The American traveler spends just time enough here 
to find out how many of his own countrymen have 
found a home within its limits, and congratulates them 
upon their hopes of meeting their reward in the future. 
Perhaps he will stay long enough to get drunk; to 
see a cock-fight, or go to a bailie — a Spanish-Mexican 
ball. To the south of Tucson, nine miles, lies the old 
Mission of San Xavier Del Bac, in a remarkably good 
state of preservation. The missions of our southwest, 
many of which are now in ruins, constitute a feature 
of attraction. They might be known as the modem 
ruins, as distinguished from ancient ruins applied to 
the evidences of unknown structures everywhere to be 
found over the lands of southern California, Arizona 
and New Mexico. Although being in a good state of 
preservation, and yet being opened to service for a 
half civilized, remnant of a mixture of the Mexico- 
Indian blood, it is virtually a ruin. It is, however, 
the best preserved in the Territory. It was founded 



296 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

in 1690; but the present edifice was erected about the 
year 1785, as near as I have been able to determine 
by data. This would make the establishment of the 
mission nearly two centuries old. A description of 
these buildings, with their dimensions, etc., although 
elaborate, bold, and conspicuous in themselves, might 
lack interest, resembling, as they do, any grand and 
gorgeous Catholic church in our thickly populated 
cities. But contrast makes both interest and beauty. 
Associations make in fact, the thing itself. Take 
away the associations of a thing, or the condition in 
which, or upon which, the thing exists, and you have 
changed it to all intents and purposes, to something 
else. To ride miles and miles then, across a level 
country, seeing nothing but what you might conceive 
consisted in just the bare platform of earth placed 
there by the hand of nature for subsequent use, to see 
as if by magic, one of these structures, equal in all its 
metropolitan adornments, planted where it would seem 
there was no fruit to nourish, strikes you curiously. 
All over this land you come in contact with these 
modern ruins of the religious zeal and fervor of the 
Jesuit Father of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 
tury ; and in noticing the few and beggarly squads of 
a people who are neither Mexican, Indian or what is 
commonly known as an American, you see the tenac- 
ity with which religious fanaticism holds fast to itself. 






1 







PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 299 

Approaching one of these edifices, a person ignorant 
of their presence, would give vent to surprise and awe. 
The deserts over which he has been riding has given 
no sound, nor shown the work of any hand, and you 
have seen, in nature's almost nothing, the greatest 
something. In your long travels and your long ab- 
sence from home and civilization, new and original 
thoughts have crowded upon you. You have thought 
as you never had thought before, and dreamed of 
things you never saw. "Why should you not? the 
mental, like the mortal man, is on new soil ; and is 
the mind not a plant? Does it not grow? Aye! and 
what a sad growth is this growth of the mind ; for if 
it grows athwart, and yet, for what, nor how, the com- 
mon growth knows not, 'tis hewn down, to rot, but 
really manures — enriches the soil for subsequent better 
growth. In this is its glory. On ! On ! you go over 
the vast stretch of country before you, unmindful of 
hidden merits and virtues. Your mind has become 
dreamy. You have come within the pale of some 
gently rising slope unnoticed. You have skirted its 
gentle slope unawares, when, turning suddenly some 
abrupt side, one of these missions — bold in contrast; 
asserting in spirit, and gorgeous in display, stops you 
short. Peace and quiet are its only companions. You 
go 'round it, and are anxious to confront it more 
boldly, and urge to get on the side which designates 



300 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

its front You are weary for some communal spirit. 
You would talk with it. But when in front, you find 
the doors closed, and often barred with the bolt of 
time and decay. But presently, while standing mute 
and writing your own brief history on the pages of 
your thought, one of the doors quietly, stealthily 
opens, and a solitary Peone or half breed Indian emer- 
ges from the place in all the solemnity of a person 
celebrating mass. Perhaps he has just finished this, 
or some as solemn a rite. The door is softly closed 
behind him. All is yet the embodiment of a perfect 
quiet. In the soft spongy earth, not even the tread of 
the worshipper is heard. Perhaps in the tower or some 
secluse corner of the building, there is a remaining 
bell which you had failed to find out. One ! Two I 
Three ! its peal breaks suddenly upon you as if moved 
by spirit hands. In the penetrating stillness, you had 
heard a sound. It re-echoed the plains and deserts 
wide ; and in its familiar, notes formed a connecting 
link between you and your home. Nothing could 
stop you from walking around and gazing for awhile 
upon that bell. 

Each toll was a wail for broken power — each knell a 
cry for sympathy. Presently the door re-opened and 
there emerged from within a modest retiring priest 
with downcast head, nor looking to the right nor to 
the left, but keeping the " straight and narrow path " 



PICTURESQUE ARIZOXA. 30 1 

to the hut of some benighted inhabitant of the plain 

I shall never forget an experience of this kind in a 

visit several years ago, to the old mission San Juan 
Capistran. 



CHAPTEK XX. 

THE KNELL OF PARTING POWER— THE TOLLING OF A CONTRITE 
BELL — ALONE WITH THE SPIRITS OF CENTURIES— TUBAC — 
THE MISSION RUINS OF SAINT JOSEPH— TUMACACORI — THE 
SANTA CRUZ VALLEY. 

TUCSON is the northern limit to these old missions 
in the Territory of Arizona ; but to the west, in 
California, they may be found as far north as San 
Francisco, where the mission Dolores is located. 

One does not have to go far from the mission San 
Xavier Del Bac, before he comes upon another of 
these modern ruins. Sonth, a few miles from Tubac, 
is located the old mission ruins of the Saint Joseph 
Mission of Tumacacori. Many matters of interest are 
connected with this mission. The interests in all are 
very diversified. Some will tell of frightful obstacles 
at the time of the establishing of them, and others will 
tell of a series of constant tribulation. The history of 
them as far as the church is concerned, is but compar- 
atively little known except by that church. The 







Jill 



k.o^SBS- 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 303 

church of Tumacacori is in total ruins, it having been 
effectually destroyed by the Apache Indians some 
years ago. The ruins stand about three miles back 
from the town of Tubac, in the valley of the Santa 
Cruz : and the history of this mision can perhaps only 
be equalled by the interesting facts that exist concern- 
ing every section and every object in the whole valley. 
These missions, or the place of their location has 
always been selected with some special interest in 
point of rich mineral or agricultural lands — perhaps 
for the better pecuniary support of the cause. This 
is particularly the case with this region of the Santa 
Cruz. This valley and its surroundings have been 
dwelt upon for both its richness and beauty, by all 
writers ; and perhaps none the less for the diversity of 
its changes and hardships, than for its riches. Per- 
haps the very richness was the cause. It is this re- 
gion that the story is told of the Padre and the salt- 
cellar, in exemplification of the vast silver deposits in 
the mountains about. The Padre* had received a fel- 
low Padre on a visit. Everything had been gotten 
that it was thought would please and show respect 
At dinner one thing was missing, however, that at- 
tracted the guest's notice. This was a salt cellar. He 
made known his grievance to the host. The host being 
much mortified, apologized for not having one in his 
possession. Stopping to think for a moment, he fin- 



304 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

ally said he would have one in a very few moments. 
He immediately despatched one of his subjects to the 
mountains near at hand to procure some silver ore. 
The man returned in less than half an hour with a 
quantity of ore from which a solid silver salt-cellar 
was moulded, and the fastidity of the sacred guest sat- 
isfied. It is well known that years ago, there was, 
within a radius of sixteen miles, one hundred and fifty 
silver mines. Broken remnants of the furnaces, cru- 
cibles, etc. etc., used in smelting, may yet be seen in 
and about the ruins. 

The valley of the Santa Cruz cannot be over-esti- 
mated for its beauty and fertility ; and when condi- 
tions become at all stable in this country, it will rap- 
idly assume to one of the JEldoracloes of the Territory. 
As varied in its beauty, and rich in both ils agricul- 
ture and mineral resources, so has equally been its re- 
versions; and as rapidly almost as pen could tell them. 
Cozzens, in his " Marvelous Country," says it was a 
a very attractive place, with its peach orchards, and its 
pomegranates." This was in 1860. No sooner had he 
these words out of his mouth, than our civil war put 
an end to enterprise here ; turned progress and ambi- 
tion into scenes of strife and bloodshed; and con- 
verted a thriving and promising present into a dark 
and abject future. Prof. Pumpelly describes Tubac as 
a "restored ruins of an old village." ; Tubac to-day is 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 307 

a mass of adobe ruins ; but with the development of 
the mines in and about the region, which is promised 
by the Toltec Syndicate of mines, of San Francisco, 
we may look for a rapid transition. 



CHAPTER XXI 

LEAVING TUBAC— THE NINEVEH OF AMERICA — SILVER-LINED AND 
VERDURE- CLAD— THE DAWN OF ARIZONA — BOLD MOUNTAIN 
SCENERY— THE SANTA RITAS — THEIR MINES. 

AT dnjr break we were anxious for a start with a 
double interest in view; we were to visit the 
Santa Ritas ; and we were to stop on our way and see 
the old ruins of the ancient mission church at Tumac- 
acori about three miles from the town of Tubnc. It 
was a brilliant morning, the rarity and clearness of the 
atmosphere drawing the mountains almost up to our 
very threshold. Some few of the Spanish-Iudian- 
Mexican element were out basking in tbe morning 
sun. We have remarked before, what a diversity of 
interests and combinations and characters Arizona af- 
fords. In this place one is forcibly reminded of trav- 
eling among the ancient countries of the east. With 
its handful of deserted and ruined mud houses, one 
and two stories high, with evidences of an attempt at 
some previous day, to arches, pillars, columns, etc., 
one is reminded of a Nineveh or a Babylon. These 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 309 

old ruins seem now to have no ambition but to crum- 
ble away and become things of the past. One build- 
ing I noticed, larger and better preserved than the rest, 
had a cupola. This was the old presidio, or fort. 
The place is not wholly deserted, a few of the houses 
being inhabited by the phlegmatic Mexican greaser 
waiting for " something to turn up." The principal 
object of ambition and life consisted of a flock of goats 
owned by the man who kept the overland stage hotel. 
(The reader must be well acquainted with this 
class of building in Arizona by this time.) The 
goats, having a predilection for high elevations, will 
often occupy the top of the ruined walls, which 
gives the whole a quaint appearance to the newcomer, 
who views this scene for the first time. 

Looking in the direction of the Santa Ritas we real- 
ized we were approaching a section of country more 
diversified and picturesque. As we neared the foot- 
hills and crossed ravines and gulches, we mounted 
plateaus stretching for miles away, and abounding in 
prolific growth, choking themselves with each other 
for the very ground's sake, on which they thrived. 
Here we would cross an extended mesa, and there 
gradually wend our way up some gentle hill-side, lead- 
ing up to the base of the ruder mountain. Here, we 
will ford some gentle running stream and flnall}^ find our 
way into the gorges and defiles of the mountains — 



310 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

mountains silver-lined and verdure-clad. The land 
included in our trip from Tubac and into the heart of 
the Santa Ritas reminded us of frontier trips in fair 
California of old, when the camp and the log hut 
were the fashion ; but with California as an incentive, 
and the immigration from the east, which is already 
vastly on the increase, Arizona will not exist so long 
in embryo as did her neighbor State, California. In 
addition to her mineral wealth, the grazing lands of 
Arizona will attract remarkable attention henceforth. 
Arizona is full of a system of small clusters of moun- 
tains seperate and distinct in themselves, thus giving 
throughout, a vast area of foot-hills and elevated pla- 
teaus favorable for sheep and goats. At no distant 
day the whole eastern Arizona — the San Francisco 
Mountains, the White Mountains in the northeast, and 
the Santa Ritas and Cero Colorado in the southeast 
will be a marvel of shepherds and their flocks. 

Approaching the Santa Ritas the effect is a pleasing 
and cheerful one. It relieves the barrenness of, and 
forms a very consoling contrast to the sanely mesas 
you have traversed in the forepart of your journey. 
Leaving the Santa Cruz valley, j^ou pass a pretty un- 
dulating prairie land, and to the head of 3^011, you have 
a second view of the picturesque and fertile San Ga- 
briel valley in the Southern part of California. So 
well is this valley reproduced in the approach to the 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 311 

Santa .Ritas that you almost fancy it is trying to rival 
its neighbor State. You look in vain for the exten- 
sive wheat fields and orchards of a Baldwin, or the 
rural and sanitary hotel and lovely grounds of a Cogs- 
well. And it would not take half the nerve and judg- 
ment of either of these worthy Californians to grasp 
the opportunity to utilize these mountain lands to the 
same extent. 

Amid the breezes wafted over this charming lea 
from the canyons of the Santa Ritas is destroyed the 
recollections of the heat of the desert and puts in one 
the vim of a miner and prospector. "With the unlimi- 
ted product of grasses, the pleasing and interesting 
specimens of the cacti of this capricious land, yielding 
everything, and the narcotic and invigorating air 
which was constantly wafted into our nostrils as 
though it was a solid substance rather than a gas; 
and lastly with the silver tongued Santa Eitas looming 
out before us, summoning us to share her opulence, is 
it any wonder that our spirits were allured to build 
air castles, or our nerves and muscles strengthened for 
the most arduous toil ? 

To the front old Plcacho del Diablo, ^rolls boldly out 
upon the plain, capped by its commanding peak, one 
of the two great peaks of the Santa Eitas, the highest 
south of the Gila River. In and around the rugged sur- 
face and crevices, of her barren walls, we knew, was a fa- 



312 riCTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

vorite defence and fortress of the murderous Apache. 
From behind these natural breast- works, many an inno- 
cent prospector and sturdy pioneer has been popped off 
his buro or horse, and the animal taken to add 
strength to these mountain devils, for further raids. 

Just before reaching the immediate vicinity of the 
Santa Ritas a peculiar formation of rock in a deep 
gulch or ravine attracted the interest of all our party. 
Large, oval and columnar shaped rocks protruded from 
the banks, and others stood upright in the centre like 
sentinels. They were of lime and sandstone formation ; 
but in shape resembled some of the rock formations 
of the upper Colorado Canyons, or of the immense 
columnar basaltic rocks on the Columbia River, in 
Oregon. The ones in the centre reminded us of mum- 
mies capped with a prodigious flat broad crusty forma- 
tion, as if they had got their custom from the huge sun- 
brimmed hats of the Jesuit Fathers that came up into 
this country in the seventeenth and. eighteenth centu- 
ries; or from the sombrero of the more modern Mexi- 
can. Sentinel-like, these interesting objects guard one 
of the approaches to the Santa Ritas. 

Over knoll and meadow, gulch and plain, invigora- 
ted by a dry atmosphere and brilliant sun, as alluring 
as one ever had in crossing over the Sierras on the 
Central Pacific Railroad, we traveled on, cheered by 
the knowledge that in two hours more ride, we would 



*«?* 




SAND STONE FORMATIONS FOUND IN THE RAVINES OF THE SANTA RITA 
MOUNTAINS. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 313 

be at the works of the Aztec Company's mines, 
where we were to be led into all the interesting and 
wonderful modus operandi of opening up rich mining 
districts. 

To the members of the company themselves, there 
was one all absorbing interest — the very one that had 
been the incentive to the journey itself. Recent crop- 
pings had assa}^ed $343,86 to the ton ; and their object 
was to arrange for putting the mines under active 
operations at once. 



CHAPTEE XXII. 

THE EL PICACHOS— A LAND OP MASSACRES— COCHISE— A MOUN- 
TAIN CABIN— TALKING MINES— A DREAM OF WATERFALLS, 
VALLEYS, CANYONS AND CAVES. 

ONE hour before reaching the mines of the Aztec 
Company, however, we were to pass the ruins of 
what was once the works of the old Tyndal or Santa 
Rita Mining Company. The stories of Indian massa- 
cres and depredations connected with this place, sug- 
gested a halt. To the one side of us reared the great 
El Picacho of the Santa Ritas ; another of these 
" guiding stars " of the plains spoken of elsewhere. 
To the other, the " Teats " adds ruddiness to the scene ; 
and the brilliant sky, the balmy air, and the sparkling 
sunlight, made us think, act, enjoy — with a corre- 
sponding vigor. The term " El Picacho " meaning 
in its literal translation, the " point of rocks," one is 
puzzled when he has tbe "El Picacho" pointed out 
to him in a thousand different places in Arizona. It 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 315 

would be more comprehensive to say a "point of 
rocks " or signifying in some way that it was the Pica- 
cho of that particular location only, and for these rea- 
sons : The Picachos of Arizona, as intimated by our 
comparison of it to a "guiding star, "are numerous and 
serve to guide the traveler in most all directions. 
They exist equally throughout the land. They rise 
to a great height above all neighboring peaks, and can 
be ?een for a distance of from one hundred to two hun- 
dred miles distant. The one spoken of in the Santa 
Ritas, can be seen from a circuit of one hundred and 
fifty to one hundred and seventj-five miles, guiding 
the traveler thereby in the direction of the Santa Ritas. 

We all dismounted or left our wagons here ; to stand 
for a few moments in the midst of ruins which, could 
they have talked would have chilled our blood and 
made our hair stand on ends. We all walked around 
mute for a while, and as we would lay our hands on 
the rude adobe walls, or stumble over some loose 
fragment of stone, a thrill would go through our 
bodies something like that experienced by us when, 
in our school days we used to read the tales of a Kit 
Carson, or Yelasquez ; and later of the adventures of 
the many characters who have become identified with 
Indian massacres and their depredations. 

One of these ruined adobe* buildings, one in which 
the walls are the best preserved, is pointed out to us 



316 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

as the scene of a most dastardly and cruel attack by 
the Indians a few years since. The Indians had been 
troublesome for some time but with great dexterity 
and watchfulness, the miners of the camp 1 had man- 
aged to hold their own. At midnight a body of the 
bloodthirsty Apaches under their powerful leader, 
and numbering ninety warriors fell upon the camp 
with yells and shouts and whoops. The fight was a 
formidable one, for the Indians attacked against odds ; 
and sweeping down in a bloodthirsty and determined 
assault surprised the whole camp. In the principal 
house — an adobe structure of three separate apart- 
ments on the ground floor — seven men and one wo- 
man held out all day against the treacherous red men, 
and finally beat them off. Being a strong mining 
camp, and the region being one of untold attraction 
for miners, the whole section of country hereabouts 
can tell more thrilling tales of Indian atrocities than 
most others. Col. R. J. Hinton, in his book on Ari- 
zona, in describing the Santa Eitas and its mines, says : 
" To the north and west is a bold but lesser cone, 
which it is proposed to call Hopkins' Peak, in honor 
of Gilbert Hopkins, a famous mining engineer, slain 
within the shadows of these mountains by the mur- 
derous Apaches. To the east and south of Mount 
Wrightson rises another and smaller peak, which has 
been called Grosvenor, in honor of another bold pio- 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 317 

neer, who, in 1861, was slain near I he old hacienda at 
Santa Rita, shortly before Mr. TVrightson, the manager, 
of the Salero Company lost his life.'' J. Ross Browne's 
account of the manner in which one of the«e gentle- 
men lost his life, is thrilling. He says: "Not far be- 
yond the mesa, we enter upon a rugged region, abound- 
ing in breaks and arroyas very rocky and difficult for 
our horses. In one of these desolate places we visited 
the spot where Mr. II. C. Grosvenor, the last manager 
of ihe Santa Rita mines, and the last of the three man- 
agers whose fate was similar, was killed by the 
Apaches about two years ago. It appeai-s that a 
w r agon containing supplies had been sent out from 
Tubac and was on its w r ay to the hacienda, when the 
men who accompanied it were attacked and killed. 
Mr. Grosvenor and Mr. Pumpelly hud passed the 
wagon and teamsters a few minutes before and pro- 
ceeded to the hacienda. As the freight party did not 
arrive within a reasonable time, Grosvenor walked out 
alone to see what was the cause of the delay. The 
Apaches had meantime made their murderous attack 
on the teamsters and plundered the wagon; and were 
moving up the Canon, when they saw Grosvenor com- 
ing, and immediately formed an ambush behind the 
rocks and shot him dead, as he approached. His 
grave lies a few hundred yards from the headquarters 
of the hacienda. A marble head-stone, upon which 



318 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

his name is inscribed, with the additional words, not 
uncommon in Arizona, " killed by the Apaches," 
marks the spot. By the side of this grave is another 
head-stone, bearing the name of Mr. Slack, his prede- 
cessor, who lost his life by this ruthless tribe of Indi- 
ans. Another of the managers also killed by the 
Apaches, lies buried at Tubac." 

Although the principal rendezvous of the formidable 
chief Cochise was in the capricious Dragoon Mountains 
the denies and gorges of the Santa Ritas used to 
serve him " on a pinch " we think, as he often availed 
himself of its natural fortresses, and partook of its 
hospitable camping grounds ; many objects of a rude 
character, such as a cluster of stones, board, or a stick 
stuck in the ground, and some improvised means of 
informing the passer by that "here lies the body of 
, killed by the Apaches," will testify to this. 

Holding converse here for a very limited time only 
with the spirits of some of the noblest and boldest pio- 
neers and frontiersmen of our country, and congratulat- 
ing ourselves that Cochise had gone to his happy hunt- 
ing ground (as he will have more facilities there) but 
hoping there are no white people with him, we take a 
hasty departure for the Toltec camp of the Aztec 
Mining Company. We have arrived. And now while 
seated in a log cabin, after a good mountain meal of 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 319 

venison and quail, my mission being to portray to all 
the particular and leading features of Arizona's do- 
main, I will diverge again, and give to my reader a 
chapter of facts, fancies and figures, suggested by my 
impressions of this particular region. The part} r arc all 
bus}' talking " mines," and planning for the prospecting 
and inspection of their new mines to-morrow; computing 
the cost of bringi ng machinery and supplies to the place ; 
strengthening their confidence in their success by re- 
iterating the success that has already attended the 
McMillen, Globe, Peck and McCracken districts, and 
congratulating themselves on the hick of antimony, 
zinc, and sulphur the ore of Arizona are known to show. 

I am seated in one corner of the cabin with a glori- 
ous fire of logs to my back, with a rough plank board 
stretched across two logs at my side for a table. On 
the board was a turnip in which I had dug a hole and 
placed a candle. The fire cast its glare of light about 
the room, while the candle flickered a mellow accom- 
paniment to the sterner rays. 

Until reaching this neighborhood of the 111th meri- 
dian, although whatever other interests may and evi- 
dently have bespoken a glorious future for Arizona, 
the traveler may claim a lack of any general system of 
continuous mountains with its Yosemities, its Niagaras, 
or its canyons of a yellow-stone. But here, about two- 



320 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

thirds the distance across the State in this latitude, 
the general features change, and as you proceed east 
still further the full change has taken place. From a 
land of the richest meadows and plain, you ascend by 
a system of mountains in an altitude where snow 
abounds in July. Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler, of the 
United States surveys, said to me on one occasion 
while at his house in Washington, that he had rarely, 
if ever, beheld a more wonderful and beautiful range 
of country than that witnessed from the heights, of 
some of the mountains of eastern Arizona. What 
water-falls, what peculiarly wonderful valleys, what 
canyons exist unknown in this yet unexplored coun- 
try, is difficult to conceive. What natural topographi- 
cal curiosities lie hidden in this "marvelous country" 
can only be surmised ; and the surmises be equalled 
only, by the suppositions founded on the most justifi- 
able demonstrations. What there is to satisfy the 
more curious sight-seer and tourist in nature's realms 
alone, is perhaps but poorly demonstrated, compared 
to her sterner and more useful qualifications, and yet 
she is not wanting even in these. 

In the more northern part of the Territory alone, 
the famous Colorado is known by the reports of Major 
J. W. Powell of the United States Geological and Geo- 
graphical surveys, to possess features grand enough, 
and thrilling, to warrant the Territory a passport 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 321 

in this respect. I will first give some of the topo- 
grapical features to support my theories, and then re- 
fer to the grand canyons of the Colorado Eiver, and to 
the river itsel£ 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE MEETING OF THE MOUNTAINS— ARIZONA'S NATURAL WON- 
DERS—THE MICROCOSM OF THE WORLD— THE COLORADO — 
ITS CANYONS— ITS PLATEAUS— ITS CAPRICES— A HOME FOR 
THE "REPEATER" — THE INDIAN GUIDES OF THE COLORADO 
— A RIVER THAT " TELLS NO TALES." 

IN Arizona is centered the three great mountain sys- 
tems of the North American Continent. The 
Rocky mountains, the Sierras, and the great metal 
bearing Cordilleras of Mexico come together here, and 
cast themselves in her very midst. Here the series 
of metalliferous mountains to the north in Nevada, 
which has created so much furore over the whole 
country, and the mountains of untold wealth of So- 
nora in Mexico, come together as though they had 
some great difficulty to settle; and in the upheavals 
it seems as though they had spent all their force in the 
contest. What are the effects yet to be discovered, of 
such a clashing? In the very demonstrations of the 
conditions already known to exist, — that of the min- 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 323 

erals — will the interesting and more wonderful features 
of Arizona be brought to light. 

By refering to a map of Arizona it will be noticed 
that a succession of mountainous regions find their 
way from the extreme southeastern part of the Terri- 
tory, to the northwest where the great Colorado bends 
on its course east and south. In this succession or 
system is located the famous Santa Catarina and Santa 
Rita mineral districts of the extreme southeast; the 
great silver bonanza district of the "Stonewall Jack- 
son " mine and the McMillen district ; the rich mines 
in and around Prescott, in its high and beautiful 
mountain elevation ; and lastly to the northwest, the 
rich and noted location of the McCracken mine, near 
the great bend of the Colorado, at which place, for 
natural wonders, Arizona may not be jealous, even of 
her sister State, California. In these higher regions 
platinum, too, is already traced. 

Col. R J. Hi n ton in his hand-book, says, in allud- 
ing to the peculiar and interesting mineral effects and 
phenomena in the highly charged electrical locations: 
" Similar phenomena from this cause have been ob- 
served in the Libyan desert, and on the Congo and 
Orinoco Rivers, which with other circumstances as to 
climate, etc., indicate that the Pacific slope is a micro- 
cosm of the world, where Italy, Egypt, Arabia, Tim- 
buctoo, Kamschatka, Brazil and the ' gem of the sea ' 



321 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 



can aJl be found within a week's travel of each other . 
more especially when the ' missing links' of railroad 
are complete." 

The Colonel could not have missed it, if he had 
used this similitude to all conditions of Arizona alike. 
In the great Marble canyon of the Colorado River, is 
a section where the walls rise to a height of six thous- 
and feet. Imagine yourself standing by the side of the 
mighty El Capitan in the Yosemite Valley, increased 
to double its height. Can you conceive it? Hardly; 
you are entering the grand canyons of the Colorado. 
From the summit, inland, extends an immense plateau 
with its meadows, lakes, etc. Being in a high altitude 
eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, snow 
can be found late in the season ; and yet sections of 
verdant hills and meadows are found in luxuriance. 
Immense herds of deer rove here at will ; and as well 
as destined to become a retreat for the sight-seeing 
tourists in its grand canyons and gigantic walls, the 
huntsman's gun will "crack " in these regions with 
most profitable results for ages to come. This is the 
land of the Rai vav-it Indians. Pine forests are abun- 
dant. It is said there is one place in these canyons, 
where the walls are so high and go close together, that 
it makes the place just dark enough for one to see the 
light of the stars in the heaven at day-time. It seems to 
me this must be the location referred to in the latter 




BUTTE IN THE UPPER COLORADO CANYON— COLORADO RIVER, ARIZONA. 



PICTUKESQUE ARIZONA. 327 

part of the sixteenth century, by the early Spanish 
conquerors from Mexico, in their explorations to the 
north. They reported great and wonderful rivers, 
"the banks of which were three or four leagues in the 
air." Imagine walls nine to twelve miles high. This 
was the report of the expedition of Don Garcia Lopez 
de Cardenas, under direction of Coronado, in 1540. 
Either they, in their continued enthusiasm of the new 
country grossly exngerated the height, or we have 
failed to retain a knowlege of the location referred to. 

At one place there is a succession of these plateaus, 
each one of which is lower than the previous one, un- 
til from a plateau of country embracing all the cli- 
mates of a temperate zone, you approach to that of a 
semi-tropical. Each one of these plateaus end with an 
abrupt break or wall descending to one below. 
Sometimes the drop from one plateau to the other 
will measure many hundred feet, and even approach 
to the thousands. 

In one place, by a manoeuvre of the river, two 
plateaus are thrown in such a relation to each other 
that you can stand on one where snow is not an un- 
common thing in July, and where pines live and pota- 
toes grow, and throw a stone into a little semi-tropical 
valley where the sub-tropical plants grow luxuriantly, 
and the fig and the orange ; and the sugar cane and 
rice are being cultivated now by a sparse population. 



328 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

New "El Capitals," new "Fort Rocks" and "Bridal 
Veils/' and other Yosemite freaks will, we may sup- 
pose, be opened at no very distant day to the sight- 
seer and the tourist. 

The length of the Colorado River is two thousand 
miles. About four hundred miles from its mouth, 
the river takes an easterly course, and extending a dis- 
tance of two hundred miles in the northern part of 
Arizona; and running up into Utah are the great 
Marble, Glen, and Grand canyons of the Colorado. 
In these canyons exist the glories of this river. The 
lower portion of the river is mainly on a level with 
the sea ; but in these canyons the river and plateaus 
range from four to fourteen thousand feet above the 
level of the sea; and in this distance of two hundred 
miles, the river falls five thousand feet. After leaving 
the region of the canyon the river takes a direct south- 
erly course and opens out upon a broad stretch of al- 
ternate flat lands, prairies, and deserts. The grand 
gorges of the upper Colorado and its ponderous can- 
yons have been passed, but you have entered a river 
which, for its whims and caprices, can scarcely be 
equaled by any navigable stream. Lacking the po- 
tent, ponderous stability of its upper portions, the 
lower, like a man jealous of his defeat in love or 
accomplishments, tries how far he can hate, or what a 
distorted compound he can make of himself, seems to 




iiABSLE CA> r YO^ or mi: coixxruro ravrii. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 331 

glory in its very caprice and its contrariness. Eun- 
ning through a region often of sands and disintegrated 
earth, the river will often change its entire course in 
twenty-four hours. Boats coming down the river this 
week will find, in going up next week, the channel of 
the river has been completely changed, and that new 
islands have been formed, old ones washed away ; bar- 
riers, where before there had been plain sailing. To- 
day this or thai piece or strip of land, will be in Ari- 
zona. To-morrow in California. Land speculations 
along the banks of this river at present would puzzle 
the brains of our shrewdest lawyers. To-day the river 
would take a sweep around a section of land upon 
which had settled some thrifty farmer, cutting his 
farm in two, taking part of his land over to Arizona, 
and the next day continue its incursions and take the 
rest of his land, house and all, over with it. One day 
he lives in Arizona the next in California. This 
would be a good place for a "repeater " to live; or a 
sorry place for a good honest voter. 

These conditions, it will be seen, necessitates a con- 
stant changing of the course of traveling. Each sue. 
cessive trip is an exploration for " a new passage to 
the north " or south. Each steamboat, as it plys the 
river, and on each and every trip, has stationed at its 
bow, with lead and line, or pole (the river for the most 
part over these plains being very shallow), a stalwart 



332 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

Indian measuring the depth of the water as the boat 
proceeds. In quaint accents of the true American 
Indian, and decidedly broken English, this half-clad 
Zuma or Apache will shout: "Three!" "Three and 
a half!" "Two and a quarter!" "Two!" "Two and 
a half ! " etc. etc. It sounds as though he said : " Thee ! " 
"Thee 'nlia!" "To!" etc. etc.; and as his voice 
goes forth smothered by the deadening sound of the 
steamboat, and in the stillness of the surroundings, 
you will fancy you are on a voyage up the Nile to 
discover its source. 

This again calls to mind the number of experiences 
all through Arizona, that will so thoroughly act as 
substitute's for distant travels in foreign lands, or 
among the different people and nations of the earth. 
Not only is this river whimsical in its coarse, but es- 
pecially capricious in its actions. Often some new 
feature of its unruly nature will be told. It is a river, 
they say, that does not give up its dead. A story of 
one of its manoeuvres was told me while at Yuma. 

It seems that in the river there will often appear on 
the top of the water a sort of air bubble ; after remain- 
ing a moment it bursts with the noise of a pop gun. 
Then commences a vociferous action of the water, as- 
suming a circular motion resembling a whirlpool. 
These are very powerful at first, but decrease as they 
become larger and finally die out. For a goodly dis- 




THE GEEAT CAMON OF THE COLODOEA EIVEE— AEI20NA, 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 335 

tance, however, tbeir power is sufficient to take a 
small boat within their grasp, when it and its freight 
is never heard from more, for the bodies never rise. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

REMARKABLE RUINS IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA— THE FOUNDERS OF 
THE AZTEC AND TOLTEC SYNDICATES OF MINES— THE 
GRANDEST PECUNIARY SUCCESS ON RECORD— THE BOLLAS 
DE PLATA (BALLS OF SILVER)— COL. J. D. GRAHAM. 

MEXICAN tradition, relating to the Primeria Alta, 
being that portion of Arizona Territory embraced 
within the Gadsden purchase, is full of statements in 
relation to rich lodes, deposits and old mines, whose 
sites are now lost. The chief of these locations are 
placed in the remarkable mineral region by which on 
either side the valley of the Upper Santa Cruz is sur- 
rounded. The Planchas cle Plata, or places of silver, 
around which has grown a well authenticated story of 
Mexican enterprise and Spanish greed and tyranny, 
has always been placed by the tradition within the 
borders of Arizona, but close to the Sonora line and 
to the east of the Santa Cruz valley, and the Oio Blan- 
co Mountains. Within the past few months it is 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 337 

claimed that these extraordinary deposits have been 
re-discovered, and are now being quietly worked by an 
American miner and his associates. Chief among the 
traditional mines, for the re-discovery of which, the 
most daring and vigorous of search has been made 
since the occupation of the Primeria Altaby Americans, 
is the famous Jesuit mine, known by the name of the 
Old Mission, whose ruins have been so fully described in 
these pages — The Tumacacori Mine. Since Charles D. 
Roston, Herman Ehrenberg and their comrades first 
located an American mining settlement at tlie old 
pueblo of Tubac, six miles from the Tumacacori Mis- 
sion, there has been more of endeavor, enterprise, dar- 
ing and courage displayed in the attempt to re-locate this 
old mine, so famous in the mission annals for its rich- 
ness, than in all the other efforts made to hold the 
country against Cochise and his Apaches. Tradition, 
besides statements of its richness, almost fabulous 
in character, has left no other indication of its where- 
abouts than the declaration of one of the mission his- 
trorographers, — that the mine lay directly east of St. 
Joseph's Church (the Mission of Tumacacori) a morn- 
ing's walk, or as elsewhere stated, about fourteen miles 
distant. Recent investigation in the Sierra Santa Rita 
giowing out of the renewed activity induced by the 
enterprise and speculation, which organized the 
already successful Aztec Syndicate, and has made this 



338 riCTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

beautifnl mountain range, the last stronghold of the 
Apache Napoleon, Cochise — the scene of vigorous ex- 
ploring efforts, opened numerous mines, established 
Toltec Camp and aroused a general interest in this re- 
gion, has also been able to definitely establish the 
existence and site of the lost Tumacacori mine. 

Following the milpas, or secondary mountain bench, 
from the farm of Joe King in the Santa Cruz valley 
which embraces the mission ruins) for some eleven 
miles, the traveler will reach the ruins of the old Ha- 
cienda del Santa Rita, where Wrightson, Grosvenor, 
Hopkins and Slack, lost their lives, and part of the 
defence of which in 1861, is so graphically described 
by Professor Raphael Pumpelly, now of Harvard Uni- 
versity, in his book " Across America and Asia. 11 A 
well defined road evidently long used, and now made 
quite easy and accessible, is the route from the valley. 
To the nortli, Salero Hill looms up boldly, and the 
explorer in search of the old Tumacacori mine will fol- 
low a rough but still good road for a couple of miles 
to the Salero House, used by the Tyndall Company 
since 1875. From this point for another mile or so ? 
the explorer will follow a rude bridle path to the 
Jefferson mine, one of the most valuable of those now 
worked by the Aztec Syndicate. To the north and east 
of the Jefferson for less than half a mile, an old mule 
track, evidently once heavily used, may be traced. 




MAP OF THE ANCIENT PROVINCE OF 
TUSAYAN, ARIZONA. 






PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 341 

It leads directly to a strongly defined lode of tlie same 
general character as the Jefferson and Georgia mines, 
and terminates at what is evidently an old shaft, now 
filled with debris, and from the mouth of which a vig- 
orous mesquite tree' may be seen growing. The evi- 
dence is abundant of old workings, and those best in- 
formed in the Mexican and Gaqui Indian traditions, 
like Professor Thomas Davis, who has resided and 
worked among them for more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury, have no doubt whatever, of the identity of the 
Bushell, as this location is now termed, with the long- 
lost site of the famous Tumacacori mine. 

The Bushell forms one of a group of ten valuable 
mines now being developed under the management of 
the Toltec Syndicate, an organization of experi- 
enced mining experts and operators, who have already 
proven their knowledge of the metalliferous richness of 
this region, and their confidence in its development, 
by their successful organization of the well known 
Aztec Syndicate. 

The Aztec Syndicate having passed into the hands 
of eastern capitalists by purchase, the original project- 
ors with the added experience which their wide knowl- 
edge of the Santa Rita and its mineral treasures has 
given them, have selected a group of ten locations, 
and commenced a thorough system of development and 
working. This project is not set up as a speculation, 



342 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

but as an investment, to be honestly developed into 
an affluent enterprise. The fact that Colonel John D. 
Graham, the successful organizer and Secretary of the 
first Aztec Syndicate, has been appointed Managing 
Director of the Toltec Sjmdicate, is proof sufficient to 
all interested in Southern Arizona, of the success that 
will attend the enterprise. 

The Toltec mines are admirably located both for 
their present accessibility and the richness of the lodes 
on which they are situated. The Bushell and the 
Saint Louis Mining Companies have recently been 
incorporated in California, and the balance will speed- 
ily be put in the same shape. The offices of these 
companies and of the Toltec Syndicate, are located at 
No. 302 Montgomery Street, San Francisco. The first 
efficient Superintendent of the Aztec mines and prop- 
erty, John E. Magee has assumed the duties of Eesi- 
dent Superintendent of the Bushell and Saint Louis 
mines, on both of which work is being energetically 
pushed. He also has charge of the general interests of 
the Toltec Syndicate in the Territory. 

The Bushell, or old Tumacacori mine is now being 
opened, new shafts are being sunk, and the old one 
already described is to be cleared out at an early day. 
The ore developments are all excellent. The Saint 
Louis mine is located on the famous Empress of India 
lode, in the southern portion of the Aztec district. It 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 343 

promises the richest developments of any location on 
that very remarkable lode. Ranging to the east and 
north of the Saint Louis, on the same lode and its spur, 
the Toltec Syndicate, own and are about to work the 
following locations : The Knoxville, Webster and 
Velasco — making a group of four valuable locations, 
on a remarkable lode that has been described in Hin- 
ton's Hand Book to Arizona, as "cropping out boldly, 
sometimes in high cliffs or with a general width of 
from eighty to three hundred feet. The lode is over 
two hundred feet wide, and shows metal the full width. 
In these shallow old workings, some three or four feet 
deep, we have picked out ore that will assay $800 per 
ton. The character of the whole lode is the same, and 
streaks of metal can be found of green and black sil- 
ver mixed with manganese from one end to the other; 
in some places yellow chloride. The vein matter is 
porphyry, gneiss and quartz, strongly colored with 
iron ; general formation incasing the lode is granite." 
To the north and east of the Empress of India lode, 
and of the Inca mine, (one of the best locations em- 
braced in the Aztec Syndicate) the Toltec own the 
Rickard and Ojero mines, both located on bold ledges, 
with cioppings that indicate rich veins. The Rickard, 
so named after the well-known English metallurgist, 
chemist and assay er, now living at Tucson, is located 
on the Rickard lode near the Colorado. The Forsyth 



VA4 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

another valuable mine belonging to the Toltec, adjoins 
the famous Hamilton mine to the east of Salero Hill 
in the Tynclall district, while " La Purissima " is a lit- 
tle south and east of the Bushell mine on the northern 
side of Salero Hill, and on th« s eastern end of the great 
Napoleon lode. The character of these mines — The 
Bushell and La Purissima — can be seen in part from 
the following moderately worded report on the latter 
location made August 13, 1877, by John E. Magee to 
Col. Graham : 

" The Purissima mine is on the Napoleon lode, one 
half mile from the old Salero mine. This lode crops 
out for over two miles showing good mineral at many 
places all the way. In 1875, Messrs. Ryan, Mansfield, 
and myself took up what we named the Jefferson mine 
on this lode and had some of the croppings assayed. 
The vein shows on the surface four to five feet, con- 
taining a great deal of galena. On the Purissima 
mine, tons of mineral can be taken right off the surface, 
which shows better than the Jefferson did. The Pur- 
issima is not so easy of access " (at that time occasional 
Apache raids made it necessary for miners to have an 
easy way of retreat. Their rendezvous then was the 
adobe building known as the Salero House.) " or we 
would have taken it in preference. On the Jefferson 
we now have a shaft sixty-five feet deep" (It is now 
much deeper.) " with a wonderful showing of ore. The 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 445 

vein in the bottom is nine feet eight inches, solid good 
ore of fair milling quality, which assays $187 per ton 
average." 

This lode is all now taken np from one end to the 
other. It has an easterly and westerly direction. The 
vein in the Jefferson shaft pitches slightly south — 
hanging wall pure granite — foot wall syenite granite 
and some porphyry. A clay gorge lies along the foot- 
wall, sometimes against it and then again four to five 
inches away from it. The formation is perfect and if 
there is such a thing as a true fissure in mining, this 
vein is certainly one of them. The old Santa Rita 
Mining Company owned and prospected this lode un- 
der the name of the "Bustillo," and in their reports 
put it down as a "fine rich vein.'' * * * Mr. Ma- 
gee thinks thst the ore from LaPurissima " will give a 
higher assay than the Jefferson, for it certainly has a 
liner appearance." He adds that " he knows it is an 
excellent mine — a first class property of good average 
ore with a true fissure vein." J. Ross Browne des- 
cribed the lode on which La Purissima is located as 
quite rich, showing silver sulphuret and galena. Mr. 
AVrightson, superintendent of the Santa .Rita Mining 
Company, writing in 1859 of the ores on the Napoleon 
lode then known as the "Bustillo" says: — "The ores 
are suited to both smelting and amalgamation. The 
smelting ores are those in which there is a very large 



346 PICTURKSQUE ARIZONA. 

admixture of lead, or very rich sulphurets of silver 
and copper. The amalgamation ores — those where the 
culls of silver and copper predominate. * * * * 
The Bushell and the Ojera mines yield ores which by 
assortment can be treated by both processes." Of the 
Hamilton lode, on which the the Forsyth mine is situ- 
ated, Professor Davis says in a report made May 1877, 
that he found thereon " four old shafts and workings 
from ten to twenty-two feet in depth ; height from 
tide water at upper shaft, 4,600 feet. This is an im- 
mense vein, or rather two veins exactly parallel and 
nearly contiguous. Are all of a higher grade; should 
judge would yield two hundred dollars per ton ; vein 
well defined, from eight to ten feet wide and growing 
wider as you go down — metal the whole width of the 
vein, and all of the works show the same." 

The Toltec Syndicate property thus admirably loca- 
ted is bonnd within a short time, under the energetic 
management of its owners and the vigorous direction 
of Col. Graham to become one of the very best in 
Southern Arizona. I have been thus particular in de- 
scribing it, because to the ability and energy of the 
gentlemen engaged therein, assisted by the recognized 
capacity for observation and statement of Col. K J. 
Hinton, whose journeys and descriptions of this region 
.are unquestioned for correctness of detail and pictur- 
esque vivacity, belong very much of the credit which is 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 347 

due the influences tb at have so recently made the mineral 
wealth, climate, soil and romantic beauty of this region, 
a subject of interest to the whole country, and so 
brought about that present activity of labor, skill and 
capital which bids fair ere long to make the Santa 
Cruz Valley and the region of which it is the centre, 
one of the richest and most enterprising mining dis- 
tricts within the United States. 

Persons desirous of more especial information rela- 
tive to this section of country should address Col. 
John D. Graham at 302 Montgomery street, San Fran- 
cisco Cal, a gentleman who has done more to develop 
and bring to the front the resources of Southern Ari- 
zona than any other living man. The author of this 
volume was the guest of Col. Graham in a remarkable 
pleasant trip — from Yuma to the Santa Rita Moun- 
tains during last December and January, and it was 
during this trip that the excellent views contained in 
this volume were taken, being the first photographs 
ever taken of these historic and interesting localities. 
Knowing Col Graham and his associates in the enter- 
prise above spoken of we most heartily recommend all 
persons desirous of information relative to this subject 
to put themselves in communication with him, and we 
desire here to specially record our thanks for unlim- 
ited courtesies and very valuable aid and assistance 
during our memorable trip to Southern Arizona. 



348 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

In dilating upon this region, it seems to me the rec- 
ollections of facts and hearsays flash upon me faster, 
and more prominently than usual, and than I can note. 
In referring to this section, the versatile write'-, J. 
Ross Browne, in describing Tubac which lies in the 
Santa Cruz Valley, says : " It lies on a pleasant slope 
in one of the most beautiful parts of the valley of the 
Santa Cruz, and that it overlooks two of the richest 
mining districts within the limits of the Territory." 

Again ; the New York Mining -Record, in referring 
to the same region, says : — " It is located in the heart 
of the extraordinary metalliferous region of the Santa 
Cruz River in Southwestern Arizona, where formerly 
the Jesuit priests, with the Spanish inhabitants and 
Indian neophytes mined with rich results though 
scarcely breaking ground, and having, as the many re- 
mains attest, but the rudest and most imperfect means 
of smelting or converting the ore into bullion. The 
fame of the ' Bollos de Plata ' (balls of silver) of Ari- 
zona in the beginning of the last century was such at 
the City of Mexico and finally in Spain, that a royal 
ordinance issued from Madrid, declared the district of 
Arizona to be royal property as a Criadero de Plata: 
that is to say, a place where silver was formed in the 
processes of nature. There is also in existence a royal 
paper of Philip V. of May 1741, charging among other 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 349 

embezzlements of royal mineral property in Arizona 
that of a mass of virgin or pure silver weighing two 
thousand seven hundred pounds." 






CHAPTEE XXV. 

FROM CAMP APACHE, NORTHEAST— A LAND FULL OF INTEREST— 
A GREAT AGRICULTURAL AND MINERAL BELT COMBINED. 

FROM Camp Apache one hundred and twenty-five 
miles in a northeasterly direction, lies the pre- 
historic land of the Moqui and Zuni of which we have 
spoken. The immense tract of land enroute, promises 
to be one of great interest at the opening of this region 
in the near future to all classes of travelers — tourist, 
emigrant, historian, philologist. 

To the tourist, for the many rural phenomena which 
such a diversified country must naturally open up ; 
to the emigrant farmer, for its fertility of lands and 
well watered valleys ; and to the historian and philol- 
ogist, for the races of beings and their languages, which 
have but recently attracted the attention of the world. 
This latter class or features of attraction is in embryo. 
It has simply dawned, to inflame the spark of inquisi- 
tiveness in man for a further knowledge of himself, 
and his connection with the races of men ; and inspire 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 351 

him with as healthy a desire for investigation as ever 
possessed the brain of a Darwin. 

For a distance of about seventy -five miles toward 
the Little Colorado which traverses Arizona in the 
northeast, there seems to be a country that will vie 
with any on the Pacific coast for attention from the 
farmer. It is along and through a series of valleys 
sloping from the many mountains of eastern Arizona 
and extending into New Mexico. These mountains 
extend in a north and southeasterly direction nearly the 
whole length of the State; and from my experience in 
the actual distance traveled, and from reports from 
pioneers and frontiersmen, I would conclude that the 
same favorable conditions characterized them through- 
out. 

Cooling streams and shady rills where many a lively 
plumed Indian spears his Dolly Varden trout, beneath 
an inviting cluster of foliage or a hanging wall of rock, 
makes up the panorama. The country is dotted here 
and there, with numerous small valleys which form a 
charming contrast to the "deserts" of the western 
portion of the Territory. In riding along these natu- 
ral garden spots, my mind was more than once taken 
back to the time when California herself was dead to 
the world, and when some were wont to discourage all 
her claims to merits and virtues, by a reference to the 
great deserts of the West. To our great trans-conti- 



352 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

nental railroads it was said, " Oh ! jom can't make it 
pay to build such a road to the coast, even if the State 
is all you claim for it ; for look at the deserts you have 
to go through to get there. Good for nothing; worth 
nothing." The trouble to acquire, they thought, 
though the thing be good in itself, would not be worth 
the thing acquired. I claim that the valleys of just 
the San Francisco mountains, and those combined in 
the eastern third of the Territory would alone warrant 
the building of a railroad. It must come. And it 
will come shortly. Such articles as the one below, 
clipped from a periodical, seems to strengthen my as- 
sertions. 

"A band of one hundred and fifty men arrived here 
yesterday from Boston and took the first train by the 
Pennsylvania Central road on their way to Arizona. 
At the base of the San Francisco Mountains they intend 
to establish a colon}'. Each man takes provisions for 
ninety days, and his personal outfit of tools and clothing 
to a total prescribed weight of three hundred pounds, 
transportation for which and for himself to the end of 
the long journey is furnished by the Arizona Coloni- 
zation Company — a Boston concern — at a cost of $140 
per man. At the end of the railroad the colonists are 
to be joined by the company's engineer, Mr. G. B. 
Maynadier, who went ahead about a week ago to pro- 
vide transportation from that point. Mr. Maynadier 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 353 

was the chief engineer of Henry Meigg's Andes rail- 
road in Peru, and is said to be thoroughly acquainted 
with Arizona. 

" The part of the country in which the proposed 
settlement is to be made is said to be very rich in the 
precious metals and at the same time very advanta- 
geous for agriculturists. A company is forming in 
San Francisco with a capital of $10,000,000, to work 
located mining claims on the west side of the moun- 
tain to which these colonists are going. Within about 
thirty days at least, eighty more men with the families 
of some of those who have already gone will go from 
Boston to join this New England Colony, whose or- 
ganization was begun in August last by a company 
of which Judge O. W. Cozzens is President, J. M. 
Piper, Secretary, and S. C. Hunt, Treasurer." 

There is a gap between the western boundary of 
Kansas and the Colorado River, east and west and 
from the 41° of latitude down to the border of Mex- 
ico that the whole country should lend its aid to open 
up and bring before the people — not only of this coun- 
try, but of those where their subjects are more op- 
pressed. The land, in its very fatness, is gasping for 
an outlet, while the people are crying for an inlet. I 
have noticed that some of our greatest agricultural 
belts extend in an indirect line from northeast to south- 
west. Run from the middle of the State of Kansas, 



354 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

across Iowa up into northern Illinois and Wisconsin 
and see this theory verified. Strike out from the Gulf 
of California at Guymas, run northeast through eastern 
Arizona and New Mexico, up through Colorado, and 
northeast to the Black Hills, and you have as com- 
plete a system of rich agricultural and mineral lands 
most harmoniously alternated together as exists within 
the country's domain. Give the people the railroads 
which rightly belong to them. 



CHAPTER XXYI. 



MY DEPARTURE FROM TUCSON— ADMONITIONS— THE JEHUS OF 
THE PLAIN— BEN HILL — MIND AND MATTER— A TALE OF 
LOVE AND WOE— ALL FOR GOLD— THE HIGHWAYMAN. 



IT was on the afternoon of the 22nd of December, 
'77 when I returned to the metropolis of Tucson on 
u the home stretch." I had left the camp of the Az- 
tec company the day before with Col. Graham, and was 
now waiting for the departure of the 2 o'clock stage 
for Yuma on my return. The objects of my trip had 
been accomplished, and my note book being replete 
with Arizona lore, the activity with which my mind 
reverted to home and friends was an amazing contrast 
to my four months travel over mountain and desert 
As I would close my eyes at dusk, visions of the home 
circle, of nephews and nieces crowding upon my knees 
with eyes sparkling with the fire of animation, eager 
to know of those " awful Indians 1 ' and those "great 
big" robbers "out there," would soften the sterner 
realities of life, and make the heart bow to the more 



356 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

tender affections. ■ These contrasts, I say, were very 
forcible. In the mining camp on these occasions I 
evinced some restless anxiety; and through the cour- 
tesy and generosity of Col. Boyle and Col. Graham I 
was escorted to Tucson where I was to await the next 
stage for California. 

The afternoon came, and 2 o'clock P. M. saw me 
seated on the top of the stage coach beside the driver. 
There was only one other passenger — a soldier from 
one of the forts. The street had many spectators to 
our departure. Very few know, except those ac- 
quainted with such cases and scenes, of the interest 
attached to the arrival and departure of the overland 
stage in a frontier town. All ready, the mail and ex- 
press matter deposited, a crack of the whip, and we 
drove off. As we did so, admonitions came thick and 
fast, not to be scalped by the Apache nor taken alive 
by the highwayman. I had often had such admoni- 
tions given me before — in Mexico, and Central Amer- 
ica they are the common warning to every traveler — 
but at this time they came with a peculiar grating on 
my ear. However, I accounted for this by the strange 
desert dreariness I had imbibed on several occasions 
during my tour, and by the knowledge that our way 
lay in part through the Apache country. The start 
was a cheerful one. 

The next tiling in turn was to find out what kind 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 357 

of a fellow my driver was, and to anticipate the asso- 
ciations of the night. 

It would be a thankless task for me, or any one, to 
attempt to explain how one should go to work to find 
out what the Jehus of our western frontier coaches 
are. They are as varied as the minds and tempers of 
men ; and one tiling I might here pertinently put for 
the guidance and safety of all travelers with these 
sturdy guides of the plains and mountains. Be care- 
ful how you set about to do it ; or else in trying to 
find them out, they will beat } t ou two to one, and 
fathom you deeper than your own knowledge runs. 
They are natural phrenologists or physiognomists. 
Nor how, nor where, they know not ; but, as one con- 
fidently said to me on one occasion, " We know a man 
as soon as we lay our eyes on 'im." 1 found my com- 
panion on this occasion, as a Jehu, an old and experi- 
enced one ; but as a man, in the very vigor of life. 
His acknowledged cool and resolute character in all 
cases of emergency, suggested in itself, a safe-guard, if 
not absolute protection, and I at once set about to get 
his consent to ride outside all night. 

" Now ! Hill," said I, (Hill, was the name of the 
driver) " Tell me what you know of this vast country, 
through which 3^ou have been traveling night and day, 
for years, as they tell me." 

We had ridden along some distance and had, from 



358 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

the first, according to my recollections, and according 
to Hill's own words, found in each other congenial 
companions. 

" Tell us of some incidents or experiences of your 
life on the plains " continued I. 

The trip I was now entering out upon, being to take 
me away from my fields of labor and observation, my 
mind naturally threw off a certain load. It felt a re- 
lief from the sterner objects of my travels, and partici- 
pated more of the beaux esprit of a careless tourist. 

Sitting on the top of the coach, as it jogged along in 
the cool of the approaching evening, I could now see 
a beauty in the vast stretching prairie and desert, 
where before it had been an uninviting trackless waste. 
Mind had assumed a new relation to matter. I was 
verifying, it seemed, how the spirit matter made a ma- 
terial thing what it is. A tree is a tree, thought I, 
and yet what two entirely different things are, a willow 
which hangs over a mother's grave, and the willow 
that shades the happy angler, as he sits under its 
branches by some cooling stream in the joys of recrea- 
tion, playing with his cunning trout. Is there not as 
much difference between these two trees, as between 
incense and gall? 

"Well," said Hill, " I suppose you want to hear 
about scalping scenes, highway robberies, or some 
blood and thunder affair. I never met a 'traveler yet 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 359 

who did not want something of this sort told to him. 
For my part, I've got tired telling 'em. But" ejacu- 
lated he, as if he had seized some happy thought, and 
then, almost as suddenly, dropped his chin on his 
breast and was silent for a moment. " Do you know " 
said he, finally, " what I have named this country? " 

" Give it up, Hill ! " said I. 

"Well," said he, looking at. me sagaciously, "I call 
it the country of disappointed lovers." 

" Disappointed lovers, " quoted I ; and then laughed 
heartily. " Why whatever put that in your head ? " 

"Yes, Sir! 'that's what's the matter.' Disappointed 
lovers ! Why ! every other man you meet here has 
some story of this kind to tell you." 

" I say Hill," said I, with an insinuating grin on my 
face, "and are you one of these ' every other '. men ? " 
Hill has not to this day, answered my questions. 

I am reminded here of an interview I hud with 
another of these frontiersmen, in the early part of my 
travels in this land, that somewhat borders upon this 
subject, and further exemplifies this theory of Mr. 
Hill's. We were riding out upon the plain and in re- 
ferring to the grotesqueness of the houses, the follow- 
ing comparisons took place: 

"You have noticed all through your travels, haven't 
you, my friend?" intervened Joseph (that was the 
name on the occasion) with an air of having started 



360 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

with some terribly convincing evidence. " You have 
noticed how some of the old, broken down, dilapidated 
mud houses throughout this whole land have a sort 
of reviving spirit about them. They will have some 
vines nicely trimmed up against the side of the walls, 
or some tasty little curtain hung by one of the little 
holes they call windows in this country ; or a few 
streaks of paint daubed in some conspicuous place on 
the outside of the building, dashed on in some original 
style of art, something after the Indian fashion of 
painting." 

11 Yes ! I have," I answered. 

" Well ! Do you know what they remind me of? 
They remind me of some of these old bachelor codgers 
— these cock-a-d oodles — who wanting in their old age, 
some congenial spirit (a wife, I mean), put on them- 
selves all the trimmings mortal man can conceive of — 
yellow neckties, kid gloves, have their hair cut twice 
a week and properly greased — or rather improperly 
so, as it would soil any silk dress it chanced to come 
in contact with ; who, with one hand in his pocket 
jingling his gold, and in the other, a bunch of roses, 
he seeks and marries a girl not yet out of her teens. 
A sweet sixteen as he would call her." 

"Well ! isn't that all right enough ? " I enquired. 

"Yes, of course it is," said my companion. "Of 
course it is, even if Cupid goes back on him; for 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 361 

when a man has outlived what little sense and reason 
lie ever had, and has never been able to find a sensi- 
ble girl that would have him, I suppose it is all right 
enough for him to start out and allure some young 
and inexperienced girl, before she is old enough to 
know her own mind or realize the clangers of the step 
she is about to take." 

" But I don't see what bearing this has upon the 
houses, or the disappointed lovers," said I. 

"No! but some of these odd and ridiculously fes- 
tooned houses remind me of these ridiculously be- 
decked human structures. As for the disappointed 
lovers, why they are the ones that get out and come 
here; for if the young girl has some one that she 
likes, you know, why the old fellow tells her either 
that she is too young to have company as young as he 
is ; or else she must drop him, or chuck him over- 
board on some dark night, and that he has got money 
enough to heal her sorrows and hide crimes alike." 

Another case still had I pointed out to me which 
would seem to defend both of these gentlemen in their 
theories and surmises. I was shown in the extreme 
southern part of the Territory, a certain crude log hut, 
in which dwelt a man of some fifty years. We were 
passing through the canyon in which it was crested 
cosily on the borders of a clear mountain stream, and 
beneath the brow of picturesque hills. It was covered 



362 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

with moss and creeping vines seeming jealous to pro- 
tect their inmate's happiness. The story of this old 
man, as told me by the driver of the coacli was, that 
while quite young, this "party" had under very pe- 
culiar circumstances and of necessity been placed in 
absolute charge of a young lady whom he thoroughly 
loved. As jealously and sturdily had he guarded and 
protected his charge, as he would his own life, or as 
only a person who honestly, nobly, and unselfishly 
loved, could have done. The girl was placed under 
the man's protection by her parents ; but a rich uncle, 
under whose charge the girl afterwards was put, be- 
came so morbidly jealous of the good character the 
young man was known to possess, forbade the girl 
from recognizing him at all. The girl had learned so 
thoroughly to look up to and respect her companion, 
that she nobly refused to obey her uncle's commands. 
Seeking to accomplish, his end, to his commands he 
afterwards added offers of large amounts of gold. Be- 
ing thus tormented by her uncle, the girl sought refuge 
with her parents, who had recognized the great services 
rendered by the young man, and from whom she ex- 
pected defense in favor of he who had been her chosen 
companion. But the parents being also swayed and 
influenced by the uncle's gold, and what they conceived 
to be their daughter's interest (short-sighted interest), 
the same dire case of " all for gold " was enacted over 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 363 

again ; for the girl afterwards married against her will, 
and died a poor drunkard's broken-hearted wife. The 
man it is said became temporarily deranged, but finally 
retired to the land of the Apache, remarking, as it is 
said he often does, to this day, that the land of the 
savage is preferable to a society which buys and sells 
honest virtue with gold. 

Darkness finally overcame the land, and at six 
o'clock, we arrived at Desert station. This meant 
"supper." Supper taken, and horses changed, we 
mounted our box seat, and, tucking our robes about 
us (for the nights were getting just a little chilly) we 
were off again. We had tucked ourselves in as snugly 
as those children did for a " long winter's nap " on a 
famous Christmas eve, although we did not expect to 
nap much on this occasion. Darkness was well spread 
over the earth. The moon had not yet risen, but the 
stars shone forth in all their brilliancy ; and by the aid 
of the limpid atmosphere, lent an interesting vision to 
the unaccustomed scenes about us. Before us, behind 
us ; to the right of us, and to the left of us, stretched 
the boundless desert, sprinkled here and there with 
small clumps of grease wood and bunch grass, and 
boarded in the distance by a gray outline of the inter- 
minable mountains of Arizona. Not a sound was 
heard save the smothered tread of our animals in the 
sand — except our own voices, which would seem to 



364 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

have a ring and re-echo in the dreary stillness. Never 
did my own voice attract my notice so much. As we 
looked into open space we would sometimes be inter- 
ested with the phenomenal light peculiar to Arizona, 
which would break the monotony of our long and 
tedious ride. On these occasions we would watch the 
slight flickering of light pass through the atmosphere. 
These wave-like effects were very slight and pale, re- 
sembling, somewhat, the "milky way," but seeming to be 
between you and the sky — not in the sky. They were 
often so pale that one might suppose it was some effect 
of the vision, passing, as they did, before you in a thin 
gauze or mist I defined it to be some effect of the 
heat of the desert upon the cooler atmosphere of the 
evening. 

Thus we rode along, not a leaf stirring and not a 
sound audible save the martial tread of our dumb 
beasts. What a contrast again, to our lively after- 
noon's conversation. The gentle jolt of the vehicle 
had cradled me into a dreamy mood. We had not 
spoken for some minutes, when suddenly: "Halt!" 
thundered upon our ears, accompanied with vocifer- 
ous oaths and calumnies. The echo had scarcely died 
away when, " Hold up your hands ! " " Throw down 
your arms ! " followed the imperative " Halt ! " in 
quick succession. All was done in less time than it 
takes to tell it. Our blood rushed to our faces. We 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 365 

were over-awed by fright, and baffled by surprise. 
Like one aroused from his slumber, we were for a mo- 
ment lost to all senses, and did not know our beatings. 
In front of us stood two men — one with a rifle and the 
other witli a large revolver — levelled directly at us. 
The horses had undergone some emotion, and had now 
quieted in a tangled harness. We had no sooner 
realized our position than : " Hold up your hands ! " 
thundered forth with increased force. 

We now thoroughly comprehended our situation. 
We were in the hands of the highwayman — perhaps 
of the assassin. 



CHAPTER XXYII 

SPIRITS OF THE DESERT — THE AUTHOR ROBBED — PENNILESS — 
THE MEETING OF M'MILLEN AND FLOURNOY— THE PROVER- 
BIAL SYMPATHY OF THE PIONEER. 

WE have said the men were there. How they 
came there in the position we now beheld them 
we could not tell. Like spirits of the deep springing 
up from the bowels of the earth by some invisible trap- 
door, or dropped down from the heavens. They were 
simply there and that is all we knew — and enough. 
A very few moments elapsed between our seeing 
them and the commencement of the excitement which 
was to be the terror of our midnight ride. But in this 
moment a volume of horrible visions ran through my 
mind, the most terrible of which was that we were now 
in the hands of the highwaymen positively and se- 
curely, and barred out from all the world by a collosal 
wall of dreary mountains, upon a wide stretch of an 
arid, fruitless, uninviting desert. 

I sat on the left of the driver. To the left of the 
horses' heads and facing us, stood a goodly specimen 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 369 

of physical man with a large revolver levelled at our 
heads. It was about the size, I should judge, of those 
used by the "Horse Marines." To the left of the 
stage, on a range with me, was another " six-footer " 
w T ith a hat, which, had it been mid-day, I would sup- 
pose was used to keep the sun off him, spreading out 
on all sides, and slouched down over his face. He 
held in his hands, and levelled at my breast a rifle. 
In the next moment, what a volume, what a life of 
thought intervened! In the very stillness of the des- 
ert there was noise; your very soul talked aloud to 
you ; and as for spirits — why, the whole world seemed 
to be composed Of them. And then, breaking the 
silence, came the demand for " your money, or your 
life ! " and the voices of these men seemed to echo 
from mountain to mountain. I was ordered to get 
down from the coach and stand before them ; while 
the soldier inside was ordered "to the front" to hold 
the horses' heads. Being a soldier, and one of his es- 
sential duties being to '• obey ! " he was constrained, 
in his good judgment, to do so. Nobly did he per- 
form his duty in this instance. Now, I had never 
been a soldier ; yet, I obeyed orders in this case quite 
as well as he did. However, it was perhaps the stern 
force of " duty " that actuated him to obey, whereas 
mine was by force of persuasion. A rifle at your 
head and a six-shooter at your breast are terrible per- 



370 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

suaders. I was thwarted, however, in my willingness 
to obey, by the "tucking in" that was done when 
leaving Desert station ; and when I came to unloose 
myself from under the lap robe, it was obstinate, and- 
I remembered that the buckle of the strap which held 
the robe to the seat was broken and I had tied the 
ends together strongly and securely. This called forth 
execrations from the robbers. 

"Why the d 1 don't you get down off that 

coach ? " 

" Gentlemen, said I, (which of course cut the grain 
acutely, but I swallowed it, and repeated) " Gentle- 
men, don't shoot! and if you will allow me I will 
explain " 

"Hold up your hands!" interrupted one, with 
which command both Hill and I readily complied. 
And when once in this position again, I was instructed 

to explain " what the d 1 " I was doing. And 

inquired of whether I had "any arms "at my side. 
Upon answering in the negative, I was allowed to pro- 
ceed, and after extricating myself was ordered to "get 
down off of there." 

Of course I complied. Once down, the following 
dialogue ensued : 

Highwayman — "Who are you? What's your 
name?" 



. PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 371 

Having told him, and after a silence of a moment, 
lie replied : 

" Well ! I'll take jour money, and be quick about it 
or I'll blow your brains out." 

I complied again ; and at this instant, and while 
turning my possessions over to them, a "click" from 
the " Horse-Marine " pistol broke the silence of the 
desert. Bat fortunately it broke nothing else. It was 
either "miss-fire" or trie thing was done for effect — 
which, I am unable to say. At each interval the si- 
lence seemed to increase. 

Oar positions were now as follows : — The soldier at 
the horses' heads to prevent them from running ; the 
driver standing up on the coach, and I on the sandy 
ground at the left side of the coach. Still further to 
my left stood one of my molesters with his rifle ; and 
in such a range that by simply elevating or lowering 
his piece either the driver or myself could be cleared of 
all responsibility in this life without it costing us one 
cent. In front of me and up at the side of the horses' 
heads where stood our soldier, was our other facetious 
friend, with his six-shooter still pointed at my breast. 
We had all been ordered to put our hands above our 
heads ; and there we were, as if practising calisthenics, 
and waiting for further drill. This is the common 
mode of the highwayman on our frontier, of securing 
your submission. With hands up, }^ou can of course 



372 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

make no resistance; and if you take them down, nine 
to one, you will at the same instant be pierced with a 
bullet. No wiping of noses now, nor drying tears. 

The first order given to the driver was to "Pass down 
Wells, Fargo k Co.'s express box!'' The driver 
stooped, picked the box from beneath the seat, and 
threw it from the coach. It landed with all its treas- 
ures, upon the sand directly in front of me with a 
heavy thump, which made my frame shudder and my 
veins contract like a headless chicken in its last death 
struggle. Each hair on my head was a porcupine 
quill. The next order was for the " United States 
mail sacks." These the driver also tossed upon the 
ground. There were three in number. They then or- 
dered put some pouches of quicksilver, which were in 
the bottom of the stage; which demand the driver 
also complied with. This over, and fearing their 
booty would not reach their desires, they made a slight 
change of venue, and placing me in front of the treasure 
heap, demanded to know again who I was, and all 
about me. Having told them, there was a reign of 
silence — a terrible reign of about thirty seconds. 
Imaginations concerning this silence ran through my 
mind as rapidly as the reflections and thoughts of a 
drowning man is supposed to crowd themselves upon 
him; and as rapidly did I come to the conclusion that 
it must be they were disappointed in their man. They 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 3*73 

liad expected some one else on this stage in my place. 
They then made a second demand, however, for all my 
papers, and any other "matters" I had about me, all of 
which I cheerfully relinquished. Had they known I 
was but a poor newspaper man, and, as they soon 
found out, all they were to get for their trouble was 
fifteen dollars, it seems to me they might have saved 
a good deal of valuable time and — " let me alone." 

It was worth the amount, however, to get an excuse 
to take down my arms, which all this time had been 
held above my head in an upright position. This was 
an uncomfortable one, to say the least ; and all the 
more so, as I stretched them high and straight to 
evince to these " spirits of the desert," my disposition 
to obey orders. Having secured my money, and evi- 
dently taking it for granted that the driver and the 
soldier had none (or being now satisfied with what they 
had obtained) we were told to resume our places on the 
coach. Having done so, the fire-arms being kept 
steadily upon us the while, we were ordered to drive 
off; and as we did so, the two men cried out alter- 
nately, "Good-night!" "Good-night!" 

I have been aroused by sudden changes ; I have 
enjoyed the ecstatic effect of contrast; but never had 
any experience so forcibly struck upon such opposite 
sentiments in my nature as the contrast between these 
soft salutations %l Good night ! " " Good night ! " and the 



374 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

terrible " halt" only a few minutes before. The form- 
er transactions were accompanied with sonorous tones 
of the deepest gutteral effort, and re-echoing as we fan- 
cied, in the distant mountains around. The latter 
tones were uttered in the gentlest simplicity and even 
savored of mellowness. It had such a pleasing and 
soothing effect upon us as to almost put us off our 
guard ; and made me feel like turning around and say- 
ing : "Oh! you. won't hurt us, will you?" I inti- 
mated to Hill, that if we should ask them now to give 
the things back, the}^ would probably do so. I say 
this was the effect their " good night " produced upon 
me. But a moment's reflecting and a slight remons- 
trance from Hill, convinced me that I was permitting 
my better judgment to be swaj^ed by their blandness, 
and apparent civility. A little consideration brought 
me to my senses and I was amazed at my own credu- 
lity, as the result of their words. 

This whole affair was performed so quickly — began 
and ended so suddenly — was such a succession of sur- 
prises, that it was not until after all was over and we 
had resumed our journey that we thoroughly realized 
that anything had actually occurred. Now was the 
"winter of our discontent." As the horses began to 
trot off at a faster pace, Hill and I began to shake in 
our seats. We repeatedly looked around and won- 
dered if they were coming after us. How often did 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 375 

we inquire of each other if we saw " anything of them?" 
We suffered more in the following few miles from an 
anticipation of a renewal of the attack than we did 
from the whole genuine affair. There was something 
so weird in our ride now. Every bush we approached ; 
every cactus we saw, seemed to be possessed with life. 
When we stopped talking, the stillness increased. It 
increased until it actually became noisy ; for the spir- 
itual man then kept up a clatter with the mortal man, 
and talked to us of things we never knew (or those 
that we had once known but wanted to forget), and in 
some respects annoyed us with its clatter. If one 
wants to get an idea of what a perfect quiet is, it seems 
to me he must go to Arizona to do it. These deserts, 
with nothing inviting, devoid of any noisy insects, or 
creatures whatever (except the coyote whose occasional 
distant whine or howl only contrasts with the stillness 
to make it greater), are suggestive places for intense — 
for penetrative meditation. 

" Well ! Now then ! " said Hill shortly afterward, as 
he spurred up his horses, " now you've had it. Now 
you've had your robber story better than I could have 
told you one, and I hope you're satisfied." 

I did feel quite satisfied, and I wanted to know of 
Hill, whether this was the kind of sociable (?) Arizona 
tendered to strangers. 

" Sociable ! " quoted Hill. " That's pretty good.'' 



376 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

"Yes!" rejoined I, "They are what I would term 
midnight sociables of the deserts." 

Thus we rode along leaving, these " spirits of the 
desert," we hoped, far behind. It was about 7 o'clock 
in the evening when our robbery took place. It was 
just before the time for the moon to rise, and the at- 
mosphere wore that peculiar haze suggested by the 
old proverb " Tis darkest just before dawn." 

Hill, who was an old pioneer in the stage business 
of our west, had many experiences (either personal or 
otherwise), to relate of the highways and the red man. 
I had one myself, having suffered a like engagement 
once before. Between us both, we consequently lis- 
tened to man}^ hair-breadth escapes and midnight rev- 
elries. We must have been intuitively prepared for 
this one from the systematic manner in which we 
went through the drill. At the very instant of the 
word "Halt!" and before we had been ordered to 
" Hold up your hands ! " which is alwaj^s the next com- 
mand, my hands went up high over my head. Misery 
liking company, I looked to my right with one eye to 
see how it fared with my brother Hill ; while the other 
I kept on my desert friends. Hill had his hands up 
too. In short we wanted to get through with the 
midnight drama as quickly as possible. I remember 
how anxious I was to get back on my box after I had 
been robbed. But being commanded to "Halt! " with 






PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 377 

at the same time, a click from tlie six-shooter, I al- 
layed my impetuosity somewhat, and seemed to feel 
willing to stand there all night rather than attempt to 
get back to my seat again until I had been ordered to 
do so. I was encouraged all the way through by 
Hill's calm and politic manner in dealing with the 
case at hand. 

This little narrative will give a general idea of the 
robberies of the overland stage coaches on our western 
highways. Of course, depredations are governed by 
no law, and these "sociables of the desert" are gov- 
erned by no set or established routine. They take 
you how and where they find you and are governed in 
their actions accordingly. Matiy variations there are 
then, to this system of aggression, although this is the 
average modus operandi. In a former robbery of a 
coach upon which I was a passenger, the coach was 
simply stopped by two men running out from behind 
a bush ; and one grabbing the horses' heads, while the 
other stepped to the side of the coach and ordered the 
driver to " hand down Wells, Fargo & Co.'s express 
box." The driver having complied with the request, 
he was told to drive on, which he did ; and the stage 
and its load drove off, and on to its destination as 
though nothing had happened — except that when we 
arrived there the box containing all the treasures was 
not with us. There is shooting at times, and often 



378 PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

loss of life, but this is generally the result of disobe- 
dience to their commands or wishes; and if ever the 
reader has an occasion to fall into the hands of these 
" spirits of the desert," we would advise him to simply 
accept the situation with a calm and quiet grace, and 
obey as you had been taught to do in your youth. In 
nine times out of ten, 3^011 will come out of the battle 
unscathed; although it is admitted that there are men 
bloodthirsty enough to love to kill for the glory of it, 
and without any provocation. 

Some, there are, who may not understand why in- 
sistence is not the better part of valor, and not oftener 
resorted to in these instances, on the part of the stage 
companies or the passengers. We simply say to those, 
that to attempt to explain, would be a thankless task, 
as they would only look at you as one trying to ex- 
cuse your own cowardice, and vaunt their own bravery 
at you, by asserting what they would do if they were 
" caught that way." Many have I had talk with me 
in this way while attempting to satisfy their curiosity 
as to the situation in such cases, and the conditions 
governing it. But when they are " caught" them- 
selves, they are agravated to find, in turn, that a no 
better portrayal of the situation can be found in them. 
The safest plan is, never to carry but a mere paltry 
sum of money — enough to pay your way from point 
to point, where you can replenish. 



PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 379 

We reached Florence at 4 o'clock in the morning. 
It was on this occasion that I met the great prospec- 
tors, Capt. Chas. McMillen and Josiah Flournoj. As we 
were about to leave Florence, two men approached the 
stage and took passage on it for Yuma. Their dress 
consisted of a pair of overalls, sand shoes, a huge 
blanket strapped across their back, a pair of large six- 
shooters — one at each hip ; a bowie knife in their belt 
behind, a rifle strapped across their back, and a big 
slouched hat ornamented with holes, which covered 
the whole structure from rain. They greeted me in 
true frontier style wanting to know if I was the man 
who had been robbed out on the desert — whether I 
was hurt any, and whether I had any money left. 
When I had answered their questions, and informed 
them that all my money had been taken, each put his 
hand in his pocket, and passed carelessly over to me a 
twenty dollar gold piece, telling me they guessed that 
would see me through to Yuma, and that the twenty 
dollars would be as good to them at some other time. 
When I offered to give them " my note," they looked 
displeasure that human nature had fallen so low, that 
a piece of paper was worth more than a man's honor, 
and said: "a man's word is his note in this country, 
my friend." 

I subsequently learned that these two men were 
McMillen and Floumoy, and were then on their way 



JiSO PICTURESQUE ARIZONA. 

to San Francisco and New York to incorporate the 
"Hannibal'' mine, then recently discovered. * * * 
A ride of three days and nights in the overland 
stage coach brought me back to Yurnn. In passing 
Los Angeles on my way north to San Francisco, 
I was reminded of the attraction the orange groves of 
that district had held for me, and of the famous beach 
at Santa Monica, only fifteen miles to the sea side. I 
left the main road here and ran down to Santa Monica. 
Here, after a refreshing sojourn at the Santa Monica 
Hotel, and a few invigorating surf baths in the Pacific 
Ocean in the dead of winter, I diversified my trip by 
taking one of the magnificent steamers of the coast, 
for San Francisco. 

THE END. 



